Post Comment   Private Reply

#1: strepsiptera    To: Horse (#0)

catholicism.org/catholic- teaching-just-war.html

strepsiptera posted on 2023-09-26 11:12:26   Reply   Private Reply

#2: strepsiptera    To: All (#1)

“War, in general, is divided into two classes — defensive and offensive. The first occurs when an armed attack has been made on a peaceful society, and arms are taken up in self-defense. The second class, offensive war, is the armed response to an injurious action other than a direct attack or invasion. Theologians have traditionally held that no special moral justification is needed when taking up arms to defend oneself from an armed attack. Although the attacked nation is subject to certain moral limitations when conducting the war, waging war in response to a direct attack is to exercise the natural right of self-defense — pure and simple.”

Russia invaded Ukraine so Ukraine would not be violating Catholic Just War theory by defending itself. If the weapons are used for self defense, then the pope is not wrong.

strepsiptera posted on 2023-09-26 11:19:59   Reply   Private Reply

#3: strepsiptera    To: All (#2)

“The other class, offensive (also called “aggressive”) war needs to be justified. It is to this second category that the following conditions of a just war must be considered before deciding to go to war. All of these conditions must be present at one and the same time.

Just cause: force may be used only to correct an evil to the nation or community that is lasting, grave, and certain.

All other means of securing or defending its rights must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.

There must be a serious probability of success.

Proportionality: the expected good to be achieved must be greater than the destruction and disorder that will be caused by the use of force. (Modern weapons of mass destruction must be seriously considered when evaluating this condition.)

Force may be used only as a last resort.”

strepsiptera posted on 2023-09-26 11:33:08   Reply   Private Reply

#4: strepsiptera    To: All (#3)

You could make a case that the current Ukrainian offensive if judged separately as an offensive action within the larger context of a defensive war fails a test of just war theory because it lacks a probability of success.

In that case the offensive would be immoral but not the overall cause of defending Ukraine.

strepsiptera posted on 2023-09-26 11:38:16   Reply   Private Reply