Vatican — Not anti-US, just anti-war
ROME — As the possibility of war in Iraq grows, the Church is also feeling the heat. The repeated pleas for peace issued by the Pope, members of the Roman Curia and assorted bishops’ conferences have been criticized by some observers as evidence of either unjustified interference, mere pacifism or not-so-subtle anti-Americanism. On closer examination, however, none of these charges holds water.
How then to interpret John Paul II’s statements? In an interview appearing Feb. 10 in the Italian paper La Stampa, Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, who had been nuncio in Turkey for 10 years, explained that the Church is proposing a detailed plan for coping with the situation. The Holy Father’s interventions, he said, are aimed at exhorting the parties involved to reflect on the consequences of their actions, not least of all for the sake of the Iraqi civilians.
Asked by the interviewer if the Vatican risks being perceived as hostile to the United States, Cardinal Sebastiani replied that the real scandal would have been if the Pope had not spoken out to try to halt the conflict.
On the Vatican-US question, Giorgio Ruini, editorialist for L’Osservatore Romano, said that he “categorically excludes” attempts to portray the Pope’s position as anti-American. Any attempts to link the John Paul II’s statements to the anti-war, anti-American sentiment of some groups would be a betrayal of the Holy Father’s intentions, Ruini said in the daily Il Messaggero of Feb. 10.
Ruini explained that it is vital to maintain united the concepts of peace and justice. In this sense the Vatican’s position is not at all “pacifist,” Ruini affirmed, but rather in favor of a “pacification” of the situation. Such a pacification would involve removing the causes of conflict, he added.
One such requirement demands that Iraq collaborate fully with the UN inspectors, explained Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, the special papal emissary sent to Baghdad this week. He warned that war would be a genuine catastrophe, the Italian paper La Repubblica reported Feb. 10.
Distinguishing principles
Church leaders keenly recognize the dangers to security due to terrorism, as they do the unsavory nature of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Yet they hasten to point out the need to avoid confusing the fight against terrorism with military action in Iraq.
A Sept. 13 letter written to George Bush by the president of the US bishops’ conference, Bishop Wilton Gregory, noted that the previous year his predecessor had told the American chief executive that “the use of force against Afghanistan could be justified, if it were carried out in accord with just war norms and as one part of a much broader, mostly non-military effort to deal with terrorism.”
Bishop Gregory continued: “We believe Iraq is a different case. Given the precedents and risks involved, we find it difficult to justify extending the war on terrorism to Iraq, absent clear and adequate evidence of Iraqi involvement in the attacks of Sept. 11 or of an imminent attack of a grave nature.”
His letter further observed that “the United States and the international community have two grave moral obligations: to protect the common good against any Iraqi threats to peace and to do so in a way that conforms with fundamental moral norms.” The letter went on explain how military action would not satisfy the moral norms governing the use of such force.
Recruiting for Bin Laden?
Some observers object that these arguments are based on a merely practical assessment of military matters, and therefore outside the competence of bishops. However, the points made by the Pope and bishops are echoed elsewhere.
For instance, a Feb. 9 analysis by Michael Dobbs in the Washington Post notes that many members of the foreign policy community, senators and senior military officers consider that “although the Bush administration may have demonstrated that Hussein is an evil man with evil weapons, it has yet to make the case that he poses an imminent threat to the peace and security of the United States that can only be defused through war.”
Regarding the fight against terrorism, David Gardner in a Jan. 27 opinion piece in the Financial Times warned that a war in Iraq “would provide Mr. Bin Laden with the groundswell of support he was denied after the attack on the twin towers and the Pentagon. An assault on Iraq is the best recruiting sergeant imaginable for his absolutist brand of Islamism, an ideology bordering on fascism.”
Then there was the perspective of a soldier-turned-chaplain. Gary Stone served for 33 years in the Australian army, first as an infantry officer, and then for the last seven years as a chaplain. Writing in the Jan. 12 issue of the Brisbane diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Leader, he noted that one of his commands involved heading a peacekeeping contingent on the Iran-Iraq border in 1989-90.
“I have seen, felt, even ‘smelt’ the evil emanating from the regime of Saddam Hussein,” Stone wrote. He supported the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait, and considers that the fight against terrorist activity morally justifiable. Yet, he contends that an attack on Iraq “can only be tenuously linked to the war on terrorism.”
Stone continued: “It is my great fear that unilateral action against Iraq by the US and allies like us will greatly swell the ranks of Islamic fundamentalists and unleash forces of evil that it will be extremely difficult to contain.”
The Pope speaks
That John Paul II is in no way motivated by anti-American sentiments is obvious by his statements in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. In his address two days later to James Nicholson, then the new US ambassador to the Holy See, the Pope recalled: “In my recent meeting with President Bush I emphasized my deep esteem for the rich patrimony of human, religious and moral values which have historically shaped the American character.”
And he added: “In my pastoral visits to the United States, and above all in my visit to Denver in 1993 for the celebration of World Youth Day, I was able personally to witness the reserves of generosity and good will present in the youth of your country.”
Nevertheless, the Pope has also been equally firm in his rejection of war. “War itself is an attack on human life since it brings in its wake suffering and death,” he told the Vatican diplomatic corps on Jan. 13. War, explained John Paul II, “is always a defeat for humanity.” As an alternative he proposed recourse to “international law, honest dialogue, solidarity between states, the noble exercise of diplomacy.”
To a world on edge with the fear of terrorism, the Church sends a double caveat: Not only would a new war in Iraq be morally unjustifiable, it would likely worsen the situation. |
