Francis wants to avoid war

Pope Francis says war is senseless slaughter, can always be avoided

The pope’s message was presented Sept. 7 to people taking part in the International Meeting of People and Religions, organized by the Rome-based lay Community of Sant’Egidio and hosted by the Diocese of Antwerp, Belgium.

So much for “Pope calls for US to Launch Iraq War III” narrative of last couple of weeks. Also, there’s this:

Abtahi (Ali Abtahi Sayyed Mohammad, a former vice president of Iran and current president of Iran’s Institute for Interreligious Dialogue) said the radical religious groups, al-Qaida and fighters for the Islamic State, developed because of support from the West, “especially from the United States,” in order to carry out Western interests.

“Those who blew up the Twin Towers were the ones America armed to fight against communism” spreading from the Soviet Union, he said, “and those who are killing Muslims and Yezidi in Iraq are those who received financial support in Syria” to counter the regime there.

Make no mistake, I think ISIS obviously must be stopped. So does Francis. So does the Iraqi Church pleading for help from these monsters. How he imagines that can be done without war, I don’t know (and I don’t really expect the Pope to be leading a KILL KILL KILL cheer squad.)

Personally, I think we need to approach this a good deal more humility than we have in the past with our Machiavellian belief that we can juggle nations and bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth through democratic capitalism administered by hot lead and cold steel. We are not the saviors of mankind, Jesus has that job. Nor are we the geopolitical masters of the earth. ISIS will have to be destroyed by locals and with coalition of interested nations with the US in a supporting position. This seems to be what is emerging as the US leadership, thank God, refuses to listen to fools, war criminals, and false prophets like Dick Cheney, Bill Kristol, and Lindsey Graham who created this catastrophe and are now back on the air posing as the only experts who can save us. In the words of the architect of this disaster:

Iraq and Syria are not our 51st and 52nd states. They are sovereign nations. And Iraq, at any rate, approves of the current approach. It is their opinion and not Bill Kristol’s that matters since this is their fight.