Cardinal McElroy sees 3 ‘major distortions of Catholic teaching on war and peace’
April 29, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: Writing in the Jesuit journal America, Cardinal Robert McElroy argued that “it is essential to identify and reject three major distortions of Catholic teaching on war and peace that have crept into our national dialogue.”
“The first distortion is the assertion that the just war tradition is the foundational stance toward war in Catholic teaching,” he wrote. “In reality, the fundamental stance of the Church toward war is that it must be avoided.”
“A second claim distorting the dialogue about Catholic teaching and the Iran war is the assertion that just war principles are merely a heuristic—that is, a mental shortcut or rule of thumb—rather than an objective set of stringent criteria for determining whether a war is morally legitimate in extreme circumstances,” Cardinal McElroy continued.
“A third claim about Catholic moral teaching distorting our current national dialogue is the assertion that while posing the central moral questions about a war rightfully belongs to the Church, the application of those norms and the determination of moral legitimacy to go to war belong solely to the leaders of government,” he added. “This assertion first arose concerning the American decision to invade Iraq in 2003.”
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Posted by: phil L -
May. 01, 2026 9:51 AM ET USA
The Church has always taught that the deliberate killing of innocent civilians is morally indefensible. The Catechism (#2314) teaches: “Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.”
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Posted by: wacondaseeds4507 -
Apr. 30, 2026 2:09 PM ET USA
I am no authority on just war theory, but it was set forth in days before the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. When an government controlled by religious fanatics declares its intent to obtain nuclear weapons, builds missiles, and calls for the destruction of its political/religious enemies, is it possibly appropriate to take thousands of lives to eliminate this threat in an attempt to avoid the killing of unknown millions of innocents? Just asking.
