398 AVOIDANCE OF WAR

YOUCAT Lesson 398

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

398  Must Christians be pacifists?

The Church strives for peace but does not preach radical pacifism.  Indeed, no one can deny either the individual citizen or particular governments and alliances the fundamental right of armed self-defense.  War is morally justifiable only as a last resort.  [2308]

It is said that this is the sword used by Peter to cut off the ear of the servant of the High Priest when Jesus was captured at Gethsemane.  The sword is in the Poznan Archdiocesan Museum.  …..398

The Church unmistakably says No to war.  Christians should do everything possible to avoid war before it starts: They oppose the stockpiling of arms and trafficking in weapons; they fight against racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination; they work to put an end to economic and social injustice and thus promote peace.  283-284

“It is not power, but love that redeems us!  This is God’s sign; he himself is love.  How often we wish that God would show himself stronger, that he would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world.  All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity.  We suffer on account of God’s patience.  And yet, we need his patience.  God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified him.  The world is redeemed by the patience of God.  It is destroyed by the impatience of man.”  Pope Benedict XVI, April 26, 2005

II. SAFEGUARDING PEACE

[2308]

Avoiding war

2308 All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. 

However, "as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed." (Gaudium et Spes 79 § 4.)¹⁰⁶