“NOTHING IS LOST BY PEACE; EVERYTHING MAY BE LOST BY WAR” (497)

Out of the Vatican – released in 2004 by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, some 250 pages of powerful admonition, and the first document of its kind – comes The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. This document challenges – in particular the laity – to practice social justice. Selecting one chapter from this document, read the following compelling passages from Chapter 11, “The Promotion of Peace:”

Violence is never a proper response. With the conviction of her faith in Christ and with the awareness of her mission, the Church proclaims, “that violence is evil, that violence is unacceptable as a solution to problems, that violence is unworthy of man. Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings.” (496)
“The Magisterium condemns ‘the savagery of war’ and asks that war be considered in a new way…War is a ‘scourge’ and is never an appropriate way to resolve problems that arise between nations, ‘it has never been and it will never be’, because it creates new and still more complicated conflicts. When it erupts, war becomes an ‘unnecessary massacre’…In the end, war is ‘the failure of all true humanism, it is always a defeat for humanity’– never again some peoples against others, never again! …no more war, no more war! (497) (Italics theirs)

After the above statements against war, The Compendium discusses “legitimate defense,” which occurs when a state has been attacked, “To be licit, the use of force must correspond to certain strict conditions: “the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain; all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; there must be serious prospects of success; the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.” (500)

But what about military action for places that cannot defend themselves? What does The Compendium say? “States do not always posses adequate means to provide effectively for their own defense, from this derives the need and importance of international and regional organizations, which should be in a position to work together to resolve conflicts…that by meeting and negotiating, men may come to discover better the bonds that unite…(and) that between them and their respective peoples it is not fear which should reign but love, a love which tends to express itself in a collaboration that is loyal, manifold in form and productive of many benefits.” (499)

In addition to the discussion of war, The Compendium discusses peace. For example, the words of Pope Paul II are remembered in which he spoke about the creation of a civilization of love. Pope Paul dismissed the idea that a civilization based on love is utopian dreaming. The Compendium states that peace is the fruit of justice and charity and a universal duty – that true and lasting peace is more a matter of love than of justice. Peace itself,…is an act and results only from love.” (494) “From a liberating faith in God’s love there arises a new vision of the world and a new way of approaching others, whether the other is an individual or an entire people. (517)

And finally, The Compendium encourages prayer that opens the heart not only to a deep relationship with God but also to an encounter with others marked by respect, understanding, esteem, and love. (519)
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http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html