The justness of war and the teaching of the Church

Abstract

This article attempts to show the essence of the Church’s teaching on war and its moral valuation. Based on ananalytical-synthetic work, it presents a of research on war and the Church’s teaching in this area, presenting key turning points in this teaching and the impact of specific events in shaping the contemporary Catholic approach to these issues. The article highlights the key role of the theory of ‘just war’, pointing to the development of this teaching in modern times, analysing the documents of the Second Vatican Council and selected papal encyclicals, which emphasise the avoidance of war and the promotion of peace. These show that the Church condemns total war and emphasises the need to protect the innocent. War is a last solution, and if it is necessary it must meet strict moral criteria. The aim of this paper was to show the relationship of contemporary Church teaching on war with just war theory, and to identify and understand subtle changes in the theology of war. It focused on analysing how changing political and social context shave influenced the formulation of the Church’s statements on war. The effects of the Second Vatican Council and papal encyclicals such as John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris and John Paul II’s Evangelium Vitae on the development of a doctrine of peace, focusing attention on the importance of peace, human dignity and the avoidance of armed conflict, are shown.