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conventions or treaties on the
laws of war, such as the
revised Geneva Convention
relative to the i.reatment of
prisoners of war, but should
take the lead in seeking to
update them. Certain forms
of warfare, new and old,
should be outlawed, and
practices in dealing with
civilian populations, prisoners
of war and refugees are
always in need of review and
reform.
Here, too, our dependence
on responsible writers,
informed speakers and
competent critics is crucial to
the cause of peace. Hence we
encourage Catholic scholars
to undertake systematic
studies of new developments,
theories and practices in
warfare, including guerrilla
warfare, revolution and “wars
of liberation.” Changing
political patterns, improved
techniques of communica
tion, new methods of remote
controls and of surveillance
of individuals and
communities alike made
possible by science, as well as
shifting ethical standards,
make it the vocation of
devout intellectuals, both as
citizens of their own nations
and servants of the common
good of mankind, to bring
informed competence to the
illumination, discussion and
resolution of the complex
issues, many of them moral,
arising from all these.
A Catholic position of
opposition to compulsory
peacetime military service,
first formulated on the level
of the Holy See by Pope
Benedict XV, has had for its
premise the fact that such
service has been a
contributing cause of the
breeding of actual wars, a
part of the “great
armaments” and “armed
peace” security concept, and,
in the words of Cardinal
Gasparri in a letter to Lloyd
George, the cause of such
great evils for more than a
century that the cure of these
evils can only be found in the
suppression of this system. In
the spirit of this position, we
welcome the voices lifted up
among our political leaders
which ask for a total review
of the draft system and the
establishment of voluntary
military service in a
professional army with
democratic safeguards and
for clear purposes of
adequate defense. Our call for
the end of any draft system
at home which, in practice,
amounts at times to
compulsory peacetime
military service is in direct
line with previous resolutions
of the hierarchy of the
United States on compulsory
military training (cf. Our
Bishops Speak, pp. 234, 237).
Apart from he question of
war itself, we deem it
opportune here to reiterate
the Council’s condemnation
of genocide, the methodical
extermination of an entire
people, nation or ethnic
minority for reasons
connected with race, religion
or status such as. that
undertaken by the Nazis
against the Jews among their
own citizens and later against
all the Jewish people, as well
as so-called “gypsies.” We
would urge United States
ratification of the United
Nations Convention on this
subject and of every other
sound implementing
instrument by which the
United Nations Declaration
of Human Rights can be
translated from the level of
ideals to that of actuality.
Furthermore, we urge
increased support by our own
countrymen and citizens of
all nations of all international
programs consistent with the
protection and promotion of
the sanctity of human life
and the dignity of the human
person in times of war and
peace.
We earnestly appeal to our
own government and to all
governments to give the
elimination of the present
international “war system” a
priority consistent with the
damaging effect of massive
armament programs on all the
objectives of the good society
to which enlightened
governments give priorities:
education, public health, a
true sense of security,
prosperity, maximum liberty,
the flourishing of the humane
arts and sciences, in a word
the service of life itself. Thus
can we strive to move away,
as reason and religion
demand, from the “war
system” to an international
system in which unilateral
recourse to force is
increasingly restricted.
This will require
international peacemaking
and peace-keeping machinery.
To this end we urge all to
support efforts for a stronger
and more effective United
Nations that it may become a
true instrument of peace and
justice among nations. In this
respect the peace motivation
of Pope Paul’s public support
of the United Nations by his
moral authority and teaching
office at the time of his visit
to that body on its
anniversary should be
normative for Catholics.
We would welcome in
official pronouncements of
our own and other
governments, as well as in the
increased support given to the
United Nations and
associated agencies by the
citizens of all nations, a
greater interest in and
direction toward the
establishment of that
universal public authority
which the Council Fathers
urged.
We recognize that any use
of police action by such an
international authority, or, in
the meantime, by the UN as
presently constituted, or by
duly constituted regional
agencies, must be carefully
subject to covenants openly
arrived at and freely
accepted, covenants spelling
out clear norms such as that
of proportionate force; here,
again, the work of qualified
and conscientious specialists
is indispensable.
|l
Turning to the more
positive aspects of the
building of an international
community and the duties of
us as Americans in this
matter, we deplore the lack
of a stable, persevering
national concern for the
promotion of the
international common good.
This is reflected in the-
fickleness of public interest in
and Congressional support of
foreign aid. It is reflected also
in a seeming insensitivity to
the importance of trade
agreements beneficial to
developing nations. A like
lack of generosity, dangerous
to the fully human common
good, is present in the
increasingly bold linking of
contraceptive programs, even
when superficially voluntary,
to needed aid programs.
Future aid and trade
assistance programs should
become increasingly
multilateral; they should
never merely serve national
self-interest except to the
extent that national interest
is genuinely part and parcel
of the general good of the
human community.
Because of the war in
Vietnam, and the growing
preoccupation with the social
problems of our cities, there
is the peril of an upsurge of
exaggerated forms of
nationalism and isolationism
which the teachings of all
churches reprove and the
experiences of World War II
had, we hoped, forever
discredited.
It is the duty of our
political leadership, of
citizens and especially of
believers who acknowledge
the brotherhood of man, to
promote and develop the
spirit of international
concern, cooperation and
understanding.
As the Council noted
“ . .. there arises a surpassing
need for renewed education
of attitudes and for new
inspiration in the area of
public opinion. Those who
are dedicated to the work of
education, particularly of the
young, or who mold public
opinion should regard as their
most weighty task the effort
to instruct all in fresh
sentiments of peace” (n. 82).
* -f.-y,. r. •
To assist the agencies and
institutions of the Catholic
Church in the United States
in their response to this
“most weighty task,” the
Catholic Bishops have
recently established a
Division of World Justice and
Peace, corresponding to the
newly established Vatican
Commission. It is our desire
that the Division will
stimulate renewed efforts in
this field, and coordinate
whenever possible such
efforts with those of other
Christian bodies in an
ecumenical framework. We
call upon all men of
conscience, all public spirited
citizens, to dedicate
themselves with fresh energy
to this work.
We believe that the talents
and resources of our land are
so abundant that we may
promote the common good
of nations at no expense to
the vitally necessary works of
urban and rural
reconstruction in our own
country. The latter are the
first order of domestic policy,
just as the former should be
the first order of foreign
policy. Neither should be
neglected, both being equally
urgent; in the contemporary
and developing world order
their fortunes are
intertwined.
Vietnam
In a previous statement we
ventured a tentative judgment
that, on balance, the U.S.
presence in Vietnam was
useful and justified.
Since then American
Catholics have entered
vigorougly into the national
debate on this question,
which, explicitly or
implicitly, is going deeply
into the moral aspects of our
involvement in Vietnam. In
this debate, opinions among
Catholics appear as varied as
in our society as a whole; one
cannot accuse Catholics of
either being partisans of any
one point of view or of being
unconcerned. In our
democratic system the
fundamental right of political
dissent cannot be denied, nor
is rational debate on public
policy decisions of
government in the light of
moral and political principles
to be discouraged. It is the
duty of the governed to
analyze responsibly the
concrete issues of public
policy.
In assessing our country’s
involvement in Vietnam we
must ask: Have we already
reached, or passed, the point
where the principle of
proportionality becomes
decisive? How much more of
our resources in men and
money should we commit to
this struggle, assuming an
acceptable cause or
intention? Has the conflict in
Vietnam provoked inhuman
dimensions of suffering?
Would not an untimely
withdrawal be equally
disastrous?
Granted that financial
considerations are necessarily
subordinate to ethical values
in any moral question,
nonetheless many wonder if
perhaps a measure of the
proportions in this, as in any
modern war, may be reflected
in the amounts inevitably lost
to education, poverty-relief
and positive works of social
justice at home and abroad
(including South East Asia) as
a result of the mounting
budgets for this and like
military operations. This
point has frequently been
raised by the Popes, notably
by Pope Pius XII who
invoked the principle of
proportionality in his analysis
of the morality even of
defensive wars, particularly
when these involve A.B.C.
elements (atomic, biological,
chemical) and losses
disproportionate to the
“injustice tolerated” (Address
to Military Doctors, Oct.
19, 1953).
While it would be beyond
our competence to propose
any technical formulas for
bringing the Vietnam War to
an end, we welcome the
bombing halt and pray for
the success of the
negotiations now underway.
Meanwhile there are moral
lessons to be learned from
our involvement in Vietnam
that will apply to future
cases. One might be that
m i 1 itary power and
technology do not suffice,
even with the strongest
resolve, to restore order or
accomplish peace. As a rule
internal political conflicts are
too complicated to be solved
by the external application of
force and technology.
Another might be the
realization that some evils
existing in the world, evils
such as undernutrition,
economic frustration, social
stagnation and political
injustices, may be more
readily attacked and
corrected through
non-military means, than by
military efforts to counteract
MASS ‘UP FRONT’ - A box of C rations serves as an altar for a Catholic chaplain saying Mass for
GI’s 16 miles north of Tay Ninh, South Vietnam. The priest’s vestments are folded at the foot of
the improvised altar, near the scene of recent fighting. (RNS Photo)