Were you the anonymous poster that put in the original comment on this thread? Wording and tone seemed unlike you, so I wasn’t sure.

Just stiring the pot a bit till someone else comes along with differing opinions.

In WW II we should have waited for further attacks on Hawaii and other US islands, not to mention the West Coast. And we should never have sent troops to Africa and Europe to fight Hitler.

In WW I (the Great War) we should have let the U-Boats keep attacking our shipping and not sent boys to France.

We should not have sent troops to Korea or Vietnam to defend those countries against Communist aggressors. We should also have not had troops in West Germany after WW II because we shouldn’t have been in Europe to begin with.

This also means that we should wait for Al Quaida to send more terrorists here before we try to stop them.

Sure this is taking it all to the absurd. That’s my point. Sometimes you do have to go to war to prevent a greater horror when all else has failed. And that does mean that sometimes your troops leave home. I believe that there have been enough samples of biological matter and plans/means of productions, weapons in violation of UN agreements and resolutions, evidence that Saddam or his agents had ties to the terrorists that attacked us, etc. etc. that Iraq, for all the problems there, is still a Just War.

I could go into great detail making my case, quoting stories (few that the media bothers to report) that show we have reason to be there. In the end it is still a matter of opinion that the Pope and I will disagree on. And it won’t affect my standing as a good Catholic.

We can love one another as Christ loved us, but I don’t know that that means that we must always be as lambs let to the slaughter. When THE Lamb was crucified, he did so for a greater purpose. When we make war it must be for a greater purpose than greed, land or power. I don’t see the US making war in that vein.

2308 Catechism
All citizens and all governments are obliged to work fo rthe avoidance of war. However “as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competience and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed.”

Not sure waging war on other then home soil falls into self defense.

Interesting thought on the ectopic pregnancy. It is still two lives regardless of the eventual outcome. So I take it that this would be a “legal” form of abortion to the church? Where would a person find reference covering this situation?

The Holy Father has stated that he believes the Iraq war is not a Just War. That is his personal opinion. He didn’t state it in such a way as to make it infallible, nor did he phrase it in such a way to be meant as an official teaching of the Church. Just because a Pope says something, doesn’t mean it is the Official Position of the Catholic Church which must be held by all members. While I willingly assent to every teaching of the Church and am willing to corrected when I am wrong, that doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything the Pope believes on all things.

According the Catechism of the Catholic Church Second Edition #2309…

The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have the responsibility for the common good.There you go. The Pope, by his own Catechism, doesn’t have the authority to evaluate the Just War status. Therefore when he speaks on it, he is giving his private opinion which we are not bound to follow.