WHEN MODERNIST PACIFISM MASQUERADES AS CATHOLIC PEACE
Prologue: The Seductive Slogan and the Catholic Question “ There is no such thing as a holy war: only peace is holy.” So goes the modernist slogan. At first hearing, the statement sounds thoroughly Christian. Does not Our Lord bless the peacemakers? Does He not command us to love our enemies? Did He not tell St Peter to put away his sword? Yet a serious Catholic must ask: Does the holiness of peace mean that every war is sinful? Does charity forbid the use of force to defend the innocent, restrain an aggressor, or restore a just peace? Traditional Catholic theology answers no. The slogan contains a truth, but it can also conceal a serious error. Peace is a great good, and war brings terrible suffering. But if the statement means that armed force is intrinsically immoral, that no war can ever be just, or that Christians must never take up arms under any circumstances, it contradicts the traditional Catholic doctrine of just war. The distinction is simple: th...