Blessed Are the Peacemakers

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 27, 2026

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and Prince of Peace who guides us through the narrow gate to heaven. He sends shepherds to protect us from wolves threatening our faith, leading us to “life in abundance.” The shepherd’s first duty is to safeguard and feed the flock.

The First Vatican Council teaches: “The Church is the only competent and divinely appointed guardian and interpreter of the Word of God, and therefore it is through the Church that the faithful are to be taught. This truth of faith, therefore, is certain, because God, who is the truth itself, cannot deceive nor be deceived.” (Dei Filius, 3.4) God’s authority validates faith. Hence, shepherds must guard God’s authority through word and deed to enhance the integrity of their witness.

God appoints the Pope as His chief shepherd on earth. He is the Vicar of Christ, the successor of Peter. As Christ’s “vicar,” his authority is not his own. He is Christ’s emissary. The pope carries the weighty responsibility of guiding the faithful to the saving truths of Jesus. He guards the Deposit of Faith—the teachings of Christ handed down in the Church since apostolic times.

The Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed summarize foundational Christian truths. We encounter Christ in the Sacraments. We find freedom in obeying His Commandments. Authentic Church teachings are not policy statements that change with the election of a new pope. Church teaching is rooted in the Deposit of Faith and refined over time by human reason.

Through the charism of infallibility and the compatibility of faith and reason, the Pope guides the gradual development of doctrine under the Church’s watchful eye. Consider this analogy. Suppose God reveals that A=B and B=C. We can conclude with certainty, indeed, infallibly, that A=C. The schema helps us understand the logic that undergirds the infallible Marian dogmas guided by the Holy Spirit: The Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without Original Sin. Mary remained sinless. Hence, Mary was not corrupted by sin, and God assumed her body and soul into heaven.

The misunderstanding of papal infallibility ranges from all-encompassing to complete irrelevance. At times, our shepherds may be less precise, but that’s the price of speaking without notes or responding to reporters mid-flight. So our shepherds must invoke the constant teaching of the Church to maintain doctrinal clarity while respecting the rights and encouraging the duties of the laity.

Catholic doctrinal principles equally bind every Catholic in conscience—including the Pope. At times, the task is straightforward. The taking of an unborn baby’s life in a direct abortion is always and everywhere wrong. Indeed, sometimes with the authority of Christ, Church leaders must harshly condemn violations of God’s law. At other times, the task involves complicated questions of prudence. Policies that promote the integrity of national sovereignty offer good examples. Nevertheless, the inestimable dignity of every human being created in the image of God is the foundation of every law advancing and protecting the common good.

While doctrinal principles remain unchanging, their application can vary based on prudential judgment. Conscience binds our respective prudential judgments unless we persuade others of the errors of their ways. The promotion of the common good through immigration laws, for example, involves numerous applications of Christian principles, allowing for healthy debate.

We encounter God not only through the proclamation of the Gospel. We also encounter Him in our interpersonal relationships. We bring peace by resolving disagreements in our families and among the families of nations. When Church officials refuse to enter the fray of prudential judgments, they challenge the laity to argue among themselves and exercise their rights and duties before God. Arguments invoking moral principles, made in good faith, bring peace through compromise and resolution.

But when Church officials engage in policy-making, they blur the distinction between binding Catholic doctrinal principles taught by the guardians of the Catholic faith and the application of moral doctrines by the laity. While we must acknowledge some overlap, clerical intrusions into the lay domain of decision-making paradoxically weaken the clerical authority and reduce its advocacy to negotiable policy statements.

The Church teaches just-war principles (cf. CCC 2307-2309). The Church teaches that civil authorities, not the Church, determine whether a nation may go to war. The Church’s just-war tradition also applies to actions within a just war. Killing combatants in battle is morally acceptable, while the summary execution of prisoners of war is murder. Under strict moral conditions, attacking a nation’s military capacity in a just war is morally acceptable. But the deliberate extermination of civilians is immoral. Routinely dismissing the carnage as mere “collateral damage” may become an unconvincing justification for murder.

However, experience suggests that our rulers rarely invoke specific just-war principles to justify warmaking. Neither do the citizenry demand accountability from our rulers by invoking the Catholic just-war precepts. In some circumstances, reserving judgment until all the facts are in can be harmful.

While the distinction between Catholic doctrine and prudential judgments protects the Church’s authority and credibility, firm lines of demarcation are elusive. Circumstances may require the prophetic voice of Churchmen to stir consciences. Blessed Clemens August von Galen, Bishop of Münster (cf. Wikipedia), condemned the Nazi “worship of race” in a pastoral letter in 1934. He published a collection of essays that fiercely criticized Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg. He was an outspoken critic of Nazi euthanasia policies. The extent of permissible overlap in religious and political spheres is also a question of prudence.

Pope Leo has recently come under fire for opposing the war in the Middle East. Whether he overextended his religious authority is a worthy discussion. In the face of the carnage of war that threatens World War III, the Vicar of Christ didn’t say, “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” History will remember that he quoted the Good Shepherd, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

The laity, as they carry out their baptismal promises, will take it from there.