Magnifica Humanitas och det rättfärdiga kriget

Kommentarer dyker nu upp som försvarar påve Leos uttalanden om det rättfärdiga kriget i sin encyclika “Magnifica Humanitas”. Jag får säkert anledning att återkomma till frågan, här lägger jag enbart ut min replik till den katolske apologeten Joe Heschmeyer som menar att påven har rätt och att han inte förändrar kyrkans lära.

Min replik:

This is all baloney. First, the existence of WMDs could lead to the complete opposite view: namely, that to prevent rogue nations from acquiring them, it is incumbent upon people of good will to potentially engage in preemptive war for the sake of peace.

Second, modern wars are generally no more violent and indiscriminate than those of old. In the Battle of Lund in 1676, 9,000 people died in a single day. During the Great Northern War between Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Russia in the first part of the 18th century, Sweden lost roughly 200,000 soldiers to combat and disease. Wherever the Russian military retreated, they burned the land. While these losses were primarily military, the toll on the overall population was devastating - to say nothing of the losses suffered by the other nations involved. In contrast, modern powers like the US and Israel have entirely new options to limit destruction by utilizing guided missiles and precision weaponry.

Third, if you raise the bar for a just war this high, you have effectively become a pacifist church. This goes against both Scripture and Tradition, both of which view war as a legitimate means to combat grave injustice. Today’s Church seems all too happy to leave injustice unchecked, which will only allow it to grow.