What Nobody's Mentioned About "Just War" Doctrine
A sort of sub-debate over "just war" doctrine has emerged between Vice President Vance and Bishop James Massa, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. This past Tuesday (April 14), Vance gave an ex tempore response to Pope Leo's criticisms of the war at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, GA. His full remarks are in the video embedded above. I'll start, though, with Bishop Massa's response, posted on the USCCB site: “For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war. A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2308). That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He do...