Introduction

In Time of War #0

We are at war. War is going on, and I fear that it will get worse. I have decided to pause my weekly postings on God’s judgment and to turn my—or better, our—attention to matters of war. Why? Do we need yet another commentator laying out just war principles and inexpertly formed military and diplomatic judgments to settle the alleged feud between the President and the Pope? Why add to the chatter? I will offer what I have to say, and I invite you to judge whether it is worth reading. But, whether you like my offerings or not, whether you read them or delete them from your inbox, we are at war, and this war may very well exceed any of our expectations or our fears. Let me make a few preliminary remarks.

Just war theory

A personal bugaboo: There is no theory of just war. We have inherited a body of moral principles to govern our behavior in war and at peace when war threatens. A theory is a tentative explanation, which may be tested and found reliable, for something we need to make sense of. Justice in war does not need a theory, but principles to govern our behavior.

The Papal – Presidential feud

There is no such feud. Although the Pope was born American and is informally seen as an American, he is not the pope of America. We may recall the election of Karol Wojtyła to the papacy, taking the name of John Paul II. When he stepped out onto the loggia to greet the crowds in St. Peter’s Piazza, he remarked that he was to speak “in your – OUR! – Italian language”, because he was now the Bishop of Rome, not just a Pole but Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. So too is Pope Leo. When he addressed the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See in January 2026, Pope Leo spoke warmly and at length of the need for renewed efforts for peace in the world, for dialogue instead of force. He called for nations to respect human freedom and to forgo manipulating populations with distorted language. Since last August, when he assumed the Chair of Peter, he has repeated these appeals and has taken up the theme articulated by his predecessors St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis: “No more war!” He is preaching to the world. Last week in his visit to Cameroon, in the presence of the President of that war-torn nation, he repeated this appeal to turn away from the violence of war. What he says is directed to the world, not only to us.

As he looks out at the world from his Chair of Peter, he sees war. Encouraged by the Patriarch of Moscow, Russia daily attacks Ukrainian civilians to force that independent nation to come under Russian rule. Following a massacre of its people by Hamas, Isreal launched war in Gaza and now moves on to destroy Hezbollah’s sites in Lebanon. In Congo, war has raged between heavily armed ethnic groups for thirty years. Christians in northern Nigeria suffer regular murderous attacks by Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram. And the United States has repeatedly bombed Iran in an effort to destroy its ability to produce nuclear weapons. In Asia China threatens Taiwan and menaces Filipino fishing boats. Pope Leo’s words apply to all these conflicts.

There is nothing especially distinctive about the conflict between the US and Iran, except for two things. We who are Americans are acutely aware of the war with Iran. Many of us are only vaguely aware of wars in other parts of the world. Since the Pope is our fellow countryman—Father “Bob” Prevost from Chicago—we think his words about war must surely be directed at us and not anyone else. And besides this, our President is Donald Trump, a man given to outlandish pronouncements filled with adjectives in the superlative and hyper-sensitive to any hint of criticism. His Secretary of Defense is given to outrageous prayer-like utterances about divinely empowered weaponry in the hands of valiant warriors. One may, however, question whether Pete Hegseth’s speeches are as blasphemous as Patriarch of Moscow Kirill’s promise of heaven for any Russian who should die in the attack on Ukraine.

The enemy

As we regard the war with Iran, we need to consider the enemy, because Iran truly in an enemy of the United States. Emperor Hirohito’s ships attacked Pearl Harbor not out of hatred for the United States but to cripple US forces in the Pacific so badly that the American Navy could not interfere with the Japanese project to build an Asian empire. Hitler had no real complaint against our country. He could gain very little from a fight with the USA. However, Iran has hated this country since 1979, naming it the Great Satan. When President Carter allowed the Shah of Iran to enter the US for medical treatment of his cancer, the Ayatollah Khomeini rallied his people, chanting “Death to America!” to occupy the American embassy in Tehran, holding its staff hostage for 444 days. It was possibly the greatest international diplomatic insult in recent history. Iran is America’s enemy because its leaders have made it so.

My project here

For the next few weeks, I will offer a series of Substack posts on war. The fundamental reality in terms of which we must consider the issue of war is this: We belong to Christ. We are his people, members of his Body, the Church. God has created us and done so not as free-floating embodied spirits, but as human persons to live in this place—for many of us, the United States of America and for others Mexico or Austria or Poland or Malawi—and at this time. God intends for you and me to be here now. Living here and now, we are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves.

We are, I fear, close to the brink of another great war, a World War III if you will. The world has begun to change, and as it does our own lives—your life and mine—will change dramatically. We must prepare spiritually for the war that is to come.