Pope Paul VI jetted across the Atlantic for a few hours early in his papacy. It was the first trip of a pope, the Patriarch of the West. to the hemisphere designated as “Western.” The occasion was the Pakistan/India flashpoint, and the opportunity to address the United Nations. His famous quote is cited, but if you want to research it, his address in full is here.
39. Therefore, even today, the Church cannot but make her own the words of the Pontiffs, repeating with Pope St. Paul VI: “jamais plus la guerre, jamais plus la guerre!” [“never again war, never again war!”].[Cf. Paul VI, Address to the United Nations (4 October 1965).]
His second successor was no less strong, and no less sidelined, despite his recognition that resources spent on weapons are a thievery from the neediest among us:
Moreover, together with Pope St. John Paul II, the Church pleas “in the name of God and in the name of man: Do not kill! Do not prepare destruction and extermination for people! Think of your brothers and sisters who are suffering hunger and misery! Respect each one’s dignity and freedom!”[John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis 16]
Pope Francis pokes at the roots of the rot that is justified war.
As much now as ever, this is the cry of the Church and of all humanity. Pope Francis underscores this by stating, “We can no longer think of war as a solution because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.’ Never again war!”[Fratelli Tutti 258] Since humanity often falls back into the same mistakes of the past, “in order to make peace a reality, we must move away from the logic of the legitimacy of war.”[Francis, Address to the Security Council of the United Nations (14 June 2023)] The intimate relationship between faith and human dignity means it would be contradictory for war to be based on religious convictions: “The one who calls upon God’s name to justify terrorism, violence, and war does not follow God’s path. War in the name of religion becomes a war against religion itself.”[Francis, Address on the World Day of Prayer for Peace (20 September 2016)]
The Holy Father’s messaging on war has been consistent, as presented here. Violence has become so much a part of the human substrate and today’s background noise, we expect it, take it for granted, and even attack people who want to change it for the better. Check this perspective on the last six centuries. Interesting was the upturn in violence in the early 1960s–why a pope with a long seasoning as a diplomat would have sensed it. The first decade of John Paul II’s papacy was also a rise compared to the relatively peaceful 70s.
Click this link to read the DDDF document on the Vatican site.
Catholic Sensibility 