Pope Francis — who seemed to suggest a month ago that airstrikes against the Islamic State was a viable option — now says otherwise, that war isn’t the solution to the terrorist attacks waging through Iraq and Syria.
“War is never a satisfactory way to right injustices,” the pope said, during recent remarks in Belgium Agence France-Presse reported. “War leads people into a spiral of violence which becomes difficult to control. It destroys what it has taken generations to establish and leads the way to even worse conflicts and injustices.”
The Vatican just a few weeks ago spoke otherwise, seeming to outright endorse strikes against the Islamic State terrorist organization as “perhaps necessary,” the Holy See’s representative at the United Nations said, AFP reported.
The pope was then asked directly if he could ever support U.S. strikes on Iraq to protect Christians from Islamic State attacks. And his answer?
“In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say this: It is licit to stop the unjust aggressor,” AFP reported. “I underline the verb: stop. I do not say bomb, make war, I say stop by some means. With what means can they be stopped? These have to be evaluated. To stop the unjust aggressor is licit.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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