Non-believer: Isn't war sometimes an unavoidable measure for the safety of one's country? A preemptive strike is also necessary for safety and national interest.
Peter: But wouldn't that increase tensions between countries? It also causes anxiety.
Non-believer: I don't think so. Shouldn't the national interest come first under any circumstances?
Let's talk together! So begins the column The Light of the World in the Catholic Times by a priest columnist.
With
people around the world watching anxiously, the "Russia-Ukraine War"
broke out and many people are suffering. Unlike in the past, when the
war of aggression could be wrapped up in a grand cause of national
security and the truth could be hidden, we are now clearly looking at
the reckless scenes of an invasion of a weak country, murder,
destruction, use of banned weapons (vacuum bombs), deaths of
innocent people and children, and victims losing their homes.
Everyone
in the global village, except for a small number of dictators,
condemns the war. Pope Francis also deplored and stressed that all
political actions and plans are for brotherhood, not partisan interests.
The Catholic Church never tolerates war, and violence and war are
defined as criminal acts that incur God's wrath (Article 438 of the
"Simple Social doctrine").
The purpose of war?
Like Korea and Israel, Ukraine has had a lot of historical pain. This is because the black soil, the road between Europe and Asia, is the largest breadbasket in Europe, so invasions by powerful powers were frequent. Starting with Mongolia in the 13th century, it went through a harsh history, from the annexation of Russia in 1793 to independence in 1991. But Ukraine still has the interests of several countries formed over the past several hundred years. The complex history of Russia-Ukraine, which originally had one root, tells us this. So you say that war is ultimately for political and economic purposes? In fact, it is greed for territory, resources, economic interests, and hegemony, and this war is no different.
The war against greed— The inhuman reality was that soldiers were sent to the battlefield without knowing the reason, refused to fire at civilians, and confessed the horrors of war by texting with their families. Many people resist the barbaric violence and support universal fraternity; stories of villagers who gave food and encouragement to surrendered soldiers; ordinary people who apologized for their country's atrocities, and those who mourn the victims and wish for a speedy peace.
In fact, the essence of this war is not only the war between the aggressor and victims. It is a war against the greed of a dictator, running an unjust dictatorship for decades. We must resist this with the word of God: to love our neighbor, to long for peace, and to love even our enemies.
To resolve the tensions that arise among different
political communities and can compromise the stability of nations and
international security, it is indispensable to make use of common rules
in a commitment to negotiation and to reject definitively the idea that
justice can be sought through recourse to war. "If war can end
without winners or losers in a suicide of humanity, then we must
repudiate the logic which leads to it: the idea that the effort to
destroy the enemy, confrontation and war itself are factors of progress
and historical advancement"
Not only does the Charter of the United Nations ban recourse to force, but it rejects even the threat to use force (The Concise Social Doctrine, # 438).
