The United States must service peace alternatively than further escalate violence. The killing of innocents in Gaza and Yemen must be stopped. It was written by Bishop Joseph Strickland in a letter to the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
We print the full letter of the bishop below.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I compose as the successor of the Apostles, embodied by the work of proclaiming fact in love and righteousness. The deepening crisis in the mediate East, from the war in Gaza to the increasing regional conflicts, including US military action in Yemen, requires urgent moral reflection. As a pastor, I cannot stay silent erstwhile thousands of people endure from escalation of violence.
The Catholic Church upholds the sanctity and dignity of all human life created in the image of God. Catechism teaches us that "actions in an intentional manner contrary to the laws of the nations and its universal principles, as with their decrees, are crimes" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2313). This applies to all parties active in war activities, both nations, militant groups and coalitions. While the nation has the right to defend and defend its citizens, specified action must stay within the limits of justice, proportionality and moral law.
In Gaza, the mass killing of civilians, including women and children, has reached sizes that cannot be tolerated. The inhabitants of Palestine endure enormously, although many are not associated with terrorist organizations. War cannot be waged without respect for the innocent. The same applies to Yemen, where American military action against Huti could lead to an already unstable situation. Each fired missile, each dropped bomb threatens to further plunge the region into chaos, with unimaginable humanitarian consequences.
The rule of a just war is clear: war must be a last resort, it must be conducted solely in defence, with proportionate force, and it must never be aimed at the civilian population. Its goal must not be to conquer or retaliate, but to reconstruct a just peace. Pope Pius XII warned that war frequently "calls out more evil than that which it eliminates." I fear that today, erstwhile conflicts multiply in the mediate East, this is the tragic situation.
I call on this administration to consider the path. If America wants to be a force of good in the world, it must act through justice, reasonableness and sincere pursuit of peace, not through uncontrolled military aggression. The nation cannot claim to have moral foundations, while contributing to expanding human suffering. I call on you to search diplomatic solutions, to request the immediate end of the demolition of the Gaza Strip and to restrain the Yemeni crisis, so that the warstorm does not consume more innocent lives.
The United States has long been formed by Christian principles, but they are at a crossroads today. Will they choose the way of justice and peace, or will they let the spiral of force to spin without limit? I pray that our leaders search the wisdom of Christ, the Prince of Peace, and work for just solutions that honor the dignity of all men.
Source: LifeSiteNews.com
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