Pope Benedict Calls For Suspension of The Use of Arms In Libya

After an article in L’Osservatore Romano decried France’s hasty call for arms over Libya, and after the Pope has already said the civilians in Libya should be protected, it should not be surprising that Pope Benedict is now speaking out on the Libyan situation and calling for an end to the use of arms over Libya.

It should surprise no one that I believe that the strikes are gravely unjust. While there might be a good cause behind it (though the objective has not been properly stated in a way which satisfies just war requirements), the path to hell is often paved with good intentions. The reasons why the Church has established its just war requirements is not only to prevent warmongers from taking the path of violence, but also, to make sure those who have good intentions don’t let the cycle of violence use those same intentions for evil. When just war requirements are ignored, the destruction which follows are the result of all those involved in such actions. While we might desire the situation in Libya to be better, as long as one believes in salvation by violence, the only peace we can expect in the land is the nihilistic peace of death. No one who loves life, no one who is a follower of the God of life, can accept this. No one.