Last July Pope Francis spoke about the hundredth anniversary of World War I to a crowd gathered for the Angelus in St. Peterâ??s Square. He used the occasion to exhort his listeners to abolish war: â??Never war! Never war! I think most of all about children, whose hopes for a dignified life, a future, are dashed, dead children, wounded children, mutilated children, orphans, children who have the leftovers of war for toys, children who donâ??t know how to smile. Stop it, please! I beg you with all my heart! Itâ??s time to stop!â?Â
But the pope has since suggested that military action to protect civilians from massacre at the hands of groups such as the Islamic State can be just. This tensionâ??between calls to abolish war and cautious support for the use of armed force to protect the vulnerable from violenceâ??is nothing new at the Vatican. In 1991, St. John Paul II wrote, â??No, never again warâ? and called on humanity to â??proceed resolutely toward outlawing war completely,â? but the same year he also said, â??We are not pacifists, we do not want peace at any cost.â?Â
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