The attempt by U.S. Vice-President JD Vance to counter Pope Leo XIV’s condemnation of Trump’s unjustifiable “war of choice” on Iran was met by a feisty public issuance from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Vance had said on April 14 that the “just war” theory meant that the Pope is wrong when he claimed: “God is never on the side of people who wield the sword....” On April 15, the bishops explained that Vance had misstated the Pope’s position and Church doctrine:
“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war. A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is that a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed.’ That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’”
