The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 302: War (2025)

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

The Church urges us to pray and work for peace to avoid the evils and injustices of war. Because we live in a broken world, the Church also offers guidance on approaching war. Fr. Mike breaks down just war theory and the criteria of legitimate defense by military force under principles of moral law. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2307-2317. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture, and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 302. We are reading paragraphs 2307 to 2317. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own catechism in a year reading

plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY, and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications today is day 302. We're reading paragraphs 2307 to 2317. We're talking about avoiding war. Yesterday, we talked about safeguarding peace, talks about peace itself and talked about anger and hatred as those things that we must not cultivate in our hearts, must not act out in anger or act out of a place of deliberate hatred. But that's in the human heart. We recognize, though, that what do we do in this broken world where there are people who do violence?

What do we do in this broken world where there are people who actually want to not only destroy you, your family, your way of life, your community, your country? What do we do as Catholics? What do we do as followers of Jesus, who is the prince of peace? And he commanded us. He commanded us to love our enemies and pray for those to persecute us. So what do we do then? That's what we're looking at today.

Is there such a thing as legitimate defense by military force? And if so, what are the obligations for that kind of defense? This is coming from a thing that is called the just war theory that was developed, I believe, by a man named St. Augustine back in the fifth century. because, you know, when Christians found themselves as a minority, yeah, if you're going to kill me, I can choose to be a martyr. But then all of a sudden Christians become, well, here's the religion of the Roman Empire. Okay, now we have other countries that want to attack the empire. What do we do? If we're a Christian nation, can we fight back or can we not fight back? And so in that context,

in context after that, the church has developed this what they call just war theory. Is there a time when Christians can enter into war justly. And that's what we're looking at today. So there's a lot of great points that are made here, but at the same time, these points are going to be very specific. So we need to pay attention to all of them. And so in order to be alert this morning or whenever you listen to this, be alert today, we need to just ask the Lord for his grace so that we can understand what he is calling us to and understand what are the limits of defense.

And what are the limits about when we may or may not enter into our combat. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you. We thank you for letting us be part of a community. Thank you for letting us be part of our family, our church. Lord God, we come from all over your world from various countries. We ask that you help us be just citizens, help us to be holy citizens, help us to be like you, the Prince of Peace. Lord God, there are times when you call us to give our lives for the sake of peace. And there are times when you may call us to take up arms for the sake of peace. Give us wisdom.

Give us wisdom to discern when those times are. And give us courage to act according to your will in all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 302. reading paragraphs 2307 to 2317.

Avoiding war The Fifth Commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life. Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the church insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war. All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. However, as long as the danger of war persists, and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power,

governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed. These strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time, the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain. All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. There must be serious prospects of success. The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.

The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition. These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the just war doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good. Public authorities in this case have the right and duty to impose on citizens the obligations necessary for national defense. Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are servants of the security and freedom of nations.

If they carry out their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace. Public authorities should make equitable provision for those who, for reasons of conscience, refuse to bear arms. These are nonetheless obliged to serve the human community in some other way. The Church and Human Reason both assert the permanent validity of the moral law during armed conflict. The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between warring parties. Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely. Actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principle,

are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions. Blind obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out. Thus, the extermination of a people, nation, or ethnic minority must be condemned as a mortal sin. One is morally bound to resist orders that command genocide. Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation. A danger of modern warfare is that it provides the opportunity to those who possess modern scientific weapons, especially atomic, biological, or chemical weapons to commit such crimes. The accumulation of arms strikes many as a paradoxically suitable way of deterring potential

adversaries for more. They see it as the most effective means of ensuring peace among nations. This method of deterrence gives rise to strong moral reservations. The arms race does not ensure peace. Far from eliminating the causes of war, it risks aggravating them. Spending enormous sums to produce ever new types of weapons impedes efforts to aid needy populations. It thwarts the development of peoples. Overarmament multiplies reasons for conflict and increases the danger of escalation. The production and the sale of arms affect the common good of nations and of the international community. Hence, public authorities have the right and duty to regulate. them. The short-term pursuit of private or collective interests cannot legitimate undertakings

that promote violence and conflict among nations and compromise the international juridical order. Injustice, excessive economic or social inequalities, envy, distrust, and pride raging among men and nations constantly threaten peace and cause wars. Everything done to overcome these disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding war. Gaudiometspez stated, Insofar as men are sinners, the threat of war hangs over them and will so continue until Christ comes again.

But insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming together in charity, violence itself will be vanquished, and these words will be fulfilled. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. right paragraph 2307 to 2317 very incredibly serious right here is this call the fifth commandment

2307 forbids the intentional destruction of human life because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war and this is the thing all war even quote unquote just war there's evils and injustices that accompany all war so the church insistently says pray for peace and work not only pray pray and work for peace so goes on 2308 all citizens and government all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. Of course, the reality is this, that we live still in this good but broken world with good but broken hearts. So paragraph 2308 continues to say, however, as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right

of lawful self-defense. So there is such a thing. The governments have the right of lawful self-defense and then it says once all peace efforts have failed. This is important. So there are these four criterion we talked about, right, in just war theory. And for legitimate defense, by military force, these four things have to be present at one and the same time. So first is paragraph 2309. The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain. So again, this is a very big deal, obviously. It's lasting, it is grave, and it's certain. It's not kind of like, well, they might attack, so let's us attack them first. No, it has to be lasting, grave, and certain. Number two, all other

means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. Our first choice is not war. It's actually our last choice. It must never be the first option. It is always the last option. So all of the means of putting an end to this conflict and into this violence have been shown to be impractical. It just doesn't work or it's ineffective, right?

It doesn't work. Number three, there must be serious prospects of success. This is something that I think is fascinating to consider. Here is the church that says, okay, when it comes to, fighting against an armed aggressor. When it comes to defending your country and defending your people, there has to be some serious prospect that you can actually win, that you can actually beat them back and protect the peace and the livelihood, the lives of the people, your citizenry. And if there is not a reasonable and serious prospect of success, then you may not legitimately

enter into this military conflict. Number four, the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders, graver than the evil to be eliminated. And then it goes on to say that the power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition. So all these things have to be in place in order for there to be legitimate defense by military force. And again, countries have a right to defend themselves. They have a right to defend their way of life. They have a right to defend their populace. And not only that, but those who are soldiers, this is paragraph 2310. This is really, really important. In 2310, it says those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are servants of the security and freedom of nations. So if they carry out their duty honorably,

they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace. This is something I think it's vitally important. Many people who are part of this catechism in your community who love the Lord God with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, love their neighbor as themselves. As Catholics, you are also soldiers. In fact, if you look back over kind of the history of United States is that many, many people who are firefighters, who are police officers, who are soldiers, right, those in the military, all the military branches, a lot of them are Catholic because I think that I think there's something about this where Catholics have a sense of, okay, I have a sense of duty, I have a sense of obligation, I have a sense of a vocation

where God is calling me out of myself to serve those who need to be served. And so our military forces in our countries, in the countries that listen to this are filled with Catholic men women who have sworn to serve their country in the armed forces. If they carry out their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nations and the maintenance of peace. This is absolutely so important for us to understand. If you are a soldier and in battle, you had to kill someone and you carried out your duty honorably. That is not a sin that needs to be confessed. Again, if you're killing a combatant, that's not the same thing as murder. murder would need to be confessed but the killing of combatants in battle in war because you had sworn

to serve your country in the armed forces and you did this honorably that is not something that's needed to be confessed now for your own self and for like your wholeness of your heart you might need to want to talk to a priest about this kind of thing and maybe maybe there's some kind of place for healing remember the sacrament of the sacrament confession is not only for forgiveness it's also for healing maybe there's something in your heart that needs to be healed in this but But here is, this is very, very important. I'm going to say this one more time. Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are servants of the security and freedom of nations.

If they carry out their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace. In fact, there's a quote from mere Christianity by C.S. Louis that I really love because it highlights the difference between fighting against your neighbor in war and hating your neighbor in war. It's a big difference. C.S. Lewis says this. He writes, I've often thought to myself how it would have been if when I served in the First World War, I and some young German had killed each other simultaneously and found ourselves together at the moment after death. I cannot imagine that either of us would have felt any resentment or even any embarrassment. I think we might have laughed over it. That's what he said. And I love this quote because again, to fight against your neighbor

is not the same thing as to hate your neighbor. Remember yesterday we talked about this, anger and hatred. Those are things we must avoid. But you don't have to hate your enemy. You don't have to hate or have anger in your heart for your enemy in order to know that no my call is to stop my enemy my call is to stop my enemy and to fight against my enemy from doing something that is evil and so there is legitimate defense and we need soldiers we need soldiers who are willing to say yeah i'm a christian i'm a catholic soldier and i'm willing to serve my country but i'm going to serve my country an honorable way i'm going to do my duty and now the catechism makes it very clear goes on to say in 2312 that the mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that

becomes illicit between the warring parties, that there are still, it's still a moral law during armed conflict. All's fairer in love and war is not actually a Catholic principle. The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring parties. So, for example, non-combatants, wounded soldiers, prisoners must be respected and treated humanely. Goes on to say, actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to universal principles are crimes. These would call them war crimes. as are the orders that command these actions. So blind obedience, like, well, I was told to do this, does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out.

And so I think of any of the times where in the last century, there have been acts of genocide. And that was, well, I was just, I was told to shoot these innocent people. I was told to drop these bombs on a populace filled with innocent people. Those are my orders. That does not excuse those who carried out those orders. those are sins those are crimes in fact paragraph 2314 every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against god and man which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation of course the danger of modern warfare is that

we have that capacity at our fingertips and it names three three kinds atomic biological or chemical weapons that is gravely sinful it's a crime against god and man. And this is one of those recognitions. Again, we have to understand that our call is not the minimum. Our call is the maximum. That's one of the reasons why some people, in paragraph 2311, it highlights this. There are some people who are conscientious objectors for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms. That it says public authorities should make equitable provision for those people. That if someone says, in good conscience, I cannot take up arms in this conflict, in this battle that's legitimate at the same time they're nonetheless obliged to serve the human community

in some other way and so if someone's a conscientious objector they can be a paramedic right someone's a conscientious objector they need to help the community in some other way because this is not about it's not about you have to fight it's about you have to serve that's that's the key difference and all of us are called it as part of the human community as part of our local communities we may not be the kind of people who are willing or able to fight but every one of us has to be willing and able to serve. I hope that distinction helps. These paragraphs, 2307 to 2317, are incredibly wise,

but they're also, like so many of these paragraphs, incredibly challenging. They're challenging to our modern sentiments. They're challenging to our patriotic sentiments. But above all, they're challenging. They're calling us to be like Jesus. Remember, that's the goal, is to have the heart of Jesus. If you're a soldier in battle, have the heart of Jesus as a soldier in battle. If you're a conscientious objector, have the heart of Jesus as a conscientious objector.

If you're a parent, godparent, grandparent, sister, brother, whatever of a soldier, have the heart of Jesus. Wherever we're had, that's what we're called to. So we need prayers. Just like yesterday, we prayed for the same thing. Prayers for the heart of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thank you.