Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

As our nation enters into another military conflict, it is good for us to reexamine the concept of just war. Specifically, what conditions must be met for a war or conflict to be just or righteous – knowing that if any of those conditions are not met, then that war is unjust and gravely sinful.
 

First, it should be noted that a conflict can be unjust, but that does not mean that all those soldiers who participate in it are acting sinfully or that they share in the blame if they are following just orders from their proper commanders. If they are commanded to do something that is blatantly unjust – such as bombing civilians – they must do whatever they can to oppose that order or they share in the injustice committed. And any just orders must still be carried out in the proper way – without sin or hatred.
 

Second, we must note that we are almost never going to have all of the details available to us. Governments are not often going to disclose all of their top secret military intelligence or political information. Governments will lie or try to deceive other nations about the power and capability of their own military force. We will likely never know exactly what politicians and diplomats say to one another in private conferences. Therefore, it is exceedingly difficult to have all the information necessary for perfectly determining whether all those just war conditions are met or not. It is easier to look back on history after information has been declassified and the fog of war has somewhat dissipated to determine these conditions, but the more recent the conflict is the more difficult it becomes to accurately determine. I will say that in regard to the current conflict with Iran, at this point anyone who definitively says that the war is clearly unjust or that it is clearly just is looking at this too simplistically.
 

Due to constraints of space in the bulletin, we will look at just one condition here, but possibly come back to discuss more if there is an interest. Usually, the first condition considered for just war is whether it is declared by the proper authority. This is saying that individual citizens cannot declare war on each other or with other nations since they lack the authority. The U.S. Constitution does state that it is Congress which has the power to declare war. Now, even though Congress has not declared war in this conflict, that does not mean that the just war condition automatically fails; things are more complicated. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the military and does have authority in the Constitution to command military forces in various operations. Where those two things overlap and where there is a strict divide is debatable. Presidents and Congress have argued over where those lines are for years, and in the last 50 years Presidents from both political parties have consistently engaged the military in active combat without Congress first declaring war. We cannot say for certain whether those actions or the current one are unconstitutional or not because they have never been seriously challenged and the Supreme Court has never ruled on it. Anyone can express their opinion on the merits of the case, but it is currently impossible to say for a fact one way or the other. So, was this military action declared by the proper authority? We cannot say for certain. We thus cannot use this first parameter to conclude that the war is unjust.

Peace in Christ,
Father Timothy