Speaking to conference for military chaplains, Pope calls for abolition of warfare
October 26, 2015
Speaking on October 26 to participants in a Vatican training program for military chaplains, Pope Francis said called for the “abolition of war.”
The Pope observed that military chaplains face “often harrowing questions” today, at a time when the world is experiencing what he termed a “piecemeal Third World War.” He encouraged chaplains to serve those who carry the wounds of war, and to uphold humanitarian law in combat zones.
Humanitarian laws need to be updated, the Pope remarked, to take into account the new situations that have arisen because of deadlier weapons and the involvement of non-state actors in armed violence. “However,” he said, “as Christians we are deeply convinced that the ultimate goal, the most worthy of the person and the human community, is the abolition of war.”
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Posted by: feedback -
Oct. 27, 2015 10:40 AM ET USA
I agree with the Holy Father, but I would include the relatively newly-invented evil of legalized abortion to be abolished first and foremost.
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Posted by: FredC -
Oct. 26, 2015 8:12 PM ET USA
Better yet: the abolition of sin.
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Posted by: aclune9083 -
Oct. 26, 2015 7:27 PM ET USA
War is one consequence of our fall from grace in Adam's sin. Before we can abolish war, we must first overcome the efforts of the Evil One to encourage it. We are faced with a fourteen hundred year war of conquest by the errors of Islam; its current iteration recognizes no limits in destroying human life. Geneva convention, humane treatment of noncombatants, rational response to negotiated settlements have no meaning in the Islamic jihad. We must resist, not submit. "Deus vult!"
