Vatican media: St. Augustine had reservations about just war

October 07, 2026

The Vatican newspaper on October 6 published a front-page article arguing that St. Augustine had reservations about just war. Vatican News, the news agency of the Dicastery for Communication, simultaneously published translations in English (“St Augustine’s reservations about ‘just war’“), German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

“In theological debate and magisterial statements, the concept of ‘just war’ is increasingly being called into question in support of the idea that war is intrinsically illicit,” wrote Luigi Franco Pizzolato, professor emeritus of ancient Christian literature at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. “Yet the concept continues to resurface, and the authority of St Augustine (354–430) is often invoked in its defense.”

Citing passages from The City of God and one letter, Pizzolato argued that “anyone with the patience—and good fortune—to read Augustine himself will find signs that his acute understanding of history did not overlook the fundamental ambiguity, or even the outright inadmissibility, of ‘just war.’“

 

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Further information:

• Le riserve di sant’Agostino sulla “guerra giusta” (L'Osservatore Romano, 10/6/26)
• St Augustine’s reservations about ‘just war’ (Vatican News, 10/6/26)