Catholics are very proud this week of Pope Leo’s comment in response to President Trump’s remarks that the pope is weak on crime, terrible on foreign policy, and a few other things. Since bombs began to drop over Iran in February, Pope Leo has been increasingly emphatic over the need to put diplomacy ahead of military force in settling disputes among nations. While his comments have been a general endorsement of diplomacy over war, there has been no question that he has taken aim at what the US military is doing in Iran.
For people unfamiliar with what Pope Leo has been saying, context is very important. Catholic social teaching has a long history of grappling with the reality of war in a world that sees bad people doing evil things. St. Augustine, in the fifth century, began the Church’s reflections on what constitutes a just war.
Developed and refined over 15 centuries, just war theory recognizes the reality of evil in the world and the need to confront evil to protect the lives of innocent people and secure peace that benefits the common good. World War II was a just war and succeeded in putting an end to the aspirations of a mad and hate-filled dictator.
The first principle of just war theory is that there needs to be an imminent danger that must be stopped. There is general agreement that there was no imminent danger when the president decided to attack Iran. War should only be a last resort when all other options have been exhausted.
In this case, they were clearly not. It took President Obama’s administration more than 20 months to negotiate a scale-back of Iran’s nuclear weapons aspirations in 2015, an agreement that was unilaterally ended by the present administration. Over the weekend, in less than 48 hours, two amateur diplomats failed to dissuade Iran from its nuclear bomb ambitions. A preemptive, immoral, and illegal war continues.
For 47 years, Iran has been a bad actor on the international stage and a sponsor of terrorism throughout the Middle East. There is no question that its behavior has been murderous to its own people and a threat to peace in the region. Because the June bombing of Iran’s nuclear development site obliterated its nuclear bomb construction capacity, there was no question about its inability to construct a nuclear weapon in the immediate future.
Consequently, Iran was not an imminent threat to the United States, Israel, or its Gulf neighbors. Aware of all this, Pope Leo spoke forcefully in opposition to military action against Iran, especially after the president of the United States threatened war crimes against Iran. The president’s threat to wipe out a civilization and put an entire nation back into the Stone Age challenged the consciences of most people, including Pope Leo XIV.
On his recent trip to Algiers, Pope Leo indicated that he was not afraid of the American president in response to Trump’s unvarnished, personal attacks.
Aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria, Pope Leo XIV said, “I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’”
He indicated that his comments were not political in nature, but rather an extension of the Gospel in which Jesus encourages us to be peacemakers. The White House-issued meme of the president as Jesus further heightened the tension that had been brewing between Washington and the Vatican. It was taken down after several hours of complaints about its clearly sacrilegious message. This AI-generated picture was no surprise, however, after the president’s profanity-laden Easter message to the nation.
Context is always important in judging the statements of world leaders. The context in which Pope Leo has spoken out is unprecedented in world history. From the immoral murders of alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean to the threats to annihilate a whole civilization, the actions of the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world are crying out for condemnation. Pope Leo has correctly taken the initiative in doing so. His courage is rooted in the Gospel of peace that Jesus proclaimed and that a civilized world is invited to embrace.
Msgr. Paul V. Garrity is a senior priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and former pastor of St. Mary’s Parish and School in Lynn.
