(The Guardian) Cardinal Robert W McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, has said that the US-Israeli war with Iran is “not morally legitimate”, going further than the pope has done in his more moderate appeals for an end to the war.
In an interview with the Catholic Standard this week, McElroy said “the criterion of just cause is not met because our country was not responding to an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable attack by Iran.”
“As Pope Benedict declared categorically, Catholic teaching does not support preventative war, ie a war justified by speculation about events in the future,” he said. “If preventative war were to be accepted morally, then all limits to the cause for going to war would be put in extreme jeopardy.”
McElroy also argued that the conflict fails the “criterion of right intention” arguing that in his opinion, “one of the most worrying elements of these first days of the war in Iran is that our goals and intentions are absolutely unclear, ranging from the destruction of Iran’s conventional and nuclear weapons potential to the overthrow of its regime to the establishment of a democratic government to unconditional surrender,” he said. “You cannot satisfy the just war tradition’s criterion of right intention if you do not have a clear intention.”
www.theguardian.com
In an interview with the Catholic Standard this week, McElroy said “the criterion of just cause is not met because our country was not responding to an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable attack by Iran.”
“As Pope Benedict declared categorically, Catholic teaching does not support preventative war, ie a war justified by speculation about events in the future,” he said. “If preventative war were to be accepted morally, then all limits to the cause for going to war would be put in extreme jeopardy.”
McElroy also argued that the conflict fails the “criterion of right intention” arguing that in his opinion, “one of the most worrying elements of these first days of the war in Iran is that our goals and intentions are absolutely unclear, ranging from the destruction of Iran’s conventional and nuclear weapons potential to the overthrow of its regime to the establishment of a democratic government to unconditional surrender,” he said. “You cannot satisfy the just war tradition’s criterion of right intention if you do not have a clear intention.”
Washington cardinal says US war on Iran ‘not morally legitimate’
Robert McElroy goes further than pope has done and says conflict fails ‘criterion of right intention’
www.theguardian.com
