The Catholic Case for War with Iran
The Free Press • • world
Key Points:
- The Vatican and the White House have engaged in a public and behind-the-scenes dispute over the war in Iran, highlighted by a social media exchange between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV.
- President Trump criticized the Pope as "WEAK on crime and terrible for foreign policy," while Pope Leo XIV expressed no fear of the Trump administration.
- American Catholics are divided on the war, with some, like Father Gerald Murray, arguing that the conflict meets the Catholic Church's criteria for a just war.
- Father Murray explains that Catholic doctrine allows for war as a last resort to protect the innocent and defeat an unjust aggressor, and preemptive action is justified if the threat is certain.
- He asserts that Iran poses a grave and ongoing threat through its use of proxies to attack Americans and allies, making the U.S. war against Iran morally justifiable under just war principles.
