The church’s just war tradition has been challenged by contemporary theologians as insufficient and outdated, yet it remains a worthy filter through which to judge the moral defensibility of a turn to war-making.
International
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo urges a halt to ‘spiral of violence’ across Iran and Middle East
Pope Leo prayed that “diplomacy may regain its role and promote the good of the peoples who yearn for a peaceful coexistence founded on justice.”
Posted inDispatches
Q&A: Why did the Vatican pass on Trump’s Board of Peace?
As Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin said, the Holy See insists on the importance of participation by the United Nations in Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
Posted inDispatches
Mexico burns after drug cartel leader is captured and killed
Mexico exploded in violence after special forces killed drug cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the fearsome Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Its foot soldiers fanned out across 20 states, burning vehicles and buildings in attacks claiming at least 70 lives, including 25 National Guard members.
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
Why did the Vatican decline to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza?
Declining to join the Board of Peace, Vatican officials might point out that true peace can only be achieved through justice and reconciliation, avoiding the peace of the graveyard. How else to describe Gaza these days?
Posted inNews
Pope’s grand tour of Italy over the next few months takes him to Lampedusa and beyond
Pope Leo XIV will visit ground zero of Europe’s migration drama, the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, in May and also minister to Italians poisoned by years of toxic dumping by the mafia.
Posted inNews
Vatican will not join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza, Cardinal Parolin says
The Holy See “will not participate” in President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said Feb. 17, citing “points that leave us somewhat perplexed.”
Posted inYour Take
Our readers on the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela
The editors suggested that the new “ethos of naked self-interest” will render the world less stable. Our readers responded.
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
Catholic democracy activist Jimmy Lai receives a ‘death sentence’ in Hong Kong
Jimmy Lai, at 78, faces what amounts to a death sentence because of his stubborn insistence on freedom of expression in Hong Kong. Political leaders and human rights activists around the world quickly condemned the 20-year sentence handed down by a Hong Kong court on Feb. 9.
Posted inDispatches
The church in Spain wins an immigration victory after ‘royal decree’ offers amnesty to 500,000
As hostility toward immigrants in Europe and the United States is on the rise, Spain stands out as one of the few states that remains welcoming to migrants.