Marco Rubio to Meet Pope Leo at Vatican to Discuss Iran Conflict

Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican expert, said all of them have been ignored by the Trump administration in Iran. Ivereigh stated the most important rule is that war requires a just cause and a very immediate threat. He said the idea that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in the future does not qualify.

Ivereigh added that the war lacks approval from Congress or the United Nations, has an incoherent aim, and was not a last resort as it was launched during diplomatic negotiations. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio Catholic charity, said the Church is setting the bar higher by preferring no war at all.

Ed Condon, editor of The Pillar, a Catholic news site, said there is a conversation about the Vatican’s messaging on war appearing to drift into reflexive pacifism. Robert Barron, a conservative U.S. bishop, quoted the catechism passage stating that evaluating the moral legitimacy for war belongs to the prudential judgment of those responsible for the common good.

Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington DC criticized that language in the catechism. He told The Tablet that whether a war is just is not determined by those who decide to go to war but by objective reality.

Background on Just War Theory St.

Augustine developed his views on justified war as a shift from earlier Christian pacifism. He believed war could have a purpose if conducted for the right reasons and with the spirit of a peacemaker. The teachings have influenced widely recognized just war rules used for centuries.

American bishops have largely opposed the war in Iran. Barron’s interpretation of the catechism makes him an exception. The Pope’s predecessor, Pope Francis, faced similar criticism for calls for peace in Ukraine that some viewed as a call for surrender.