I know the Pope is for peace, as we all are.

Does God ever feel that war is necessary? Do we have a right to military solutions to the attacks of 9/11? I am confused about this.

I hate watching the news and seeing all of these people killed. I don't want to turn this into a political forum. The Old Testament is full of war stories, so I am just wondering what God thinks about war...and all of this killing.

I don't have any answers as to the right way to deal with terrorism. I don't know if there is another way.

As Catholics, how are we supposed to vote? I can't vote for Kerry because he is pro-choice and Bush is pro-war..it gets very confusing.

All I can do is say the rosary and pray for peace. What is the Catholic response to war?

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), April 07, 2004

Answers

Bump

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), April 07, 2004.

simply put:

there is such a thing as a justified war.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), April 08, 2004.

It comes down to the Church's position on killing. It can be justified to kill someone to protect your own life or another's life if that is the only way of protecting that life without causing undue harm on others. This is also behind the Church's position on the death penalty being OK in situations where there is no other way of protecting society from murderers. For more information on the concept of a just war, see this article from Catholic Answers.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), April 08, 2004.

Thank you.

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), April 08, 2004.