"War is Hell," said Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1879.
Pope Leo and three cardinals of the Catholic Church, who appeared last Sunday on 60 Minutes, agree. The problem for these theologians is that, for them, it appears war is only Hell when it is engaged in by the United States and for the best of reasons. They have little to say about the terrorist regime in Iran or, for that matter, the slaughter of civilians by Vladimir Putin's army in Ukraine.
These church leaders seem to be engaging in a kind of immoral equivalency. Do they not know that the Islamic regime hates Christians and Jews and believes their deity demands they be killed?
American Catholics have frequently disagreed with their popes, especially on issues such as abortion and traditional marriage. Consider Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-11) and former President Joe Biden, among the high-profile adherents to that faith. Both, along with other Democrat politicians who are Catholic, disregarded their church's teaching on these issues.
Pope Leo began the year criticizing America's military action in Venezuela, which removed the dictator and election cheat Nicolás Maduro from power and offered at least the hope of more freedom to the nation's population. How is repression a Catholic or even a biblical norm? Previous popes, notably John Paul II, were vociferous opponents of communism and especially the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan famously called the Soviet Union an "evil empire." He knew evil when he saw it. The same might be said for President Trump when it comes to Venezuela, Iran, and possibly Cuba, which Trump has hinted may be next on his "hit list."
At the time of the American Revolution, another pope – Pius VI – was on the wrong side of history. As Brady J. Crytzer writes in Journal for the American Revolution: "The American Revolution represented a looming crisis to the Pope, for its success was understood as a degradation of freedom, not an achievement."
Pope Pius XII failed to speak out against the Holocaust. Recently opened Vatican archives suggest he knew of the mass murder of Jews by the Nazi regime by 1942, but feared public protest would worsen persecution and endanger Catholics.
Since 1979, the ayatollah regime in Iran and its proxies have been responsible for numerous American deaths through targeted attacks, bombings, and hostage crises. Major incidents include the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, and ongoing proxy actions in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, with thousands of U.S. troops wounded or killed over their four decades in dictatorial power. Is war to stop future atrocities – with a promise of worse to come, including the possibility of nuclear war, which would kill millions – not on Pope Leo's unbalanced moral scales?
The theory of a just war, which is likely familiar to the pope, says war can be justified under the following conditions: "having a just cause (for example self-defense), right intention (peace), legitimate authority, last resort, proportionality and probability of success."
The Iran War is a pre-emptive strike to prevent the regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon and using it to kill millions. If that does not justify what is currently taking place, what does? As mentioned on previous occasions, popes have been wrong, as the outcomes of some wars and revolutions have shown. The first American pope cannot be ignorant of this history.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas' latest book, "A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).
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