“Peace is not merely the absence of war” (Compendium, no. 494). It is a universal duty, founded on a true understanding of the human person and on justice. The Church calls war a “scourge” and “the failure of all true humanism” (Compendium, no. 497), and she teaches that “a war of aggression is intrinsically immoral” (Compendium, no. 500).
A nation that is attacked has “the right and the duty to organize a defence,” but only under strict conditions (Compendium, no. 500). The Church sets the goal of “general, balanced and controlled disarmament” (Compendium, no. 508) and treats weapons of mass destruction as a particularly serious threat (Compendium, no. 509). Every piece below reads a real conflict against these conditions.
A machine has no conscience and so bears no moral responsibility, tested against the UN and Red Cross appeal on autonomous weapons. The Catholic Citizen.
Tigrayan forces have reopened war in Ethiopia. The Church permits armed resistance to tyranny only if five conditions are all met. This week, most are not.
Xi Jinping is at the White House with a trade truce that runs only to January 10. The Church calls their interdependence solidarity, and says what it asks.
Trump told the UN he must choose a deal with Iran or annihilation. From that same hall in 1965, Paul VI gave the Church’s answer: negotiation, not fear.
A UN mission alleges US war crimes at a girls’ school in Minab. The Church’s answer is the force of law, not the law of force, and it binds Washington and Tehran alike.
Inflation hit 3.4% and gas is up 27% six months into a war Congress never authorized. What Catholic social teaching says about who pays and who was asked.
The Army secretary’s resignation, read through Catholic social teaching: public office as stewardship, and the duty to refuse an order you judge wrong.
US and Iran trade strikes over the Strait of Hormuz. What Catholic social teaching and Pope Leo XIV say about a war where every blow is called a reply.
Treasury says the goal is to collapse Iran’s regime. Catholic social teaching says sanctions may press a government toward talks, never punish a people.
