US embassy cable - 04VATICAN4778

UNCLAS  VATICAN 004778 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/WE (Levin) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, VT 
SUBJECT: VATICAN REJECTS PACIFISM, BUT DEBATE SIMMERS 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) Contrary to the popular perception of a pacifist 
Vatican generated by the Holy See's opposition to the Iraq 
war, senior Vatican officials have consistently 
acknowledged the legitimacy of war as a last resort and 
have recently gone out of their way to make clear that the 
Holy See is not pacifist.  The Holy See's Permanent 
Observer at the UN in Geneva cited the obligation to disarm 
the aggressor when the human rights of citizens are under 
threat.  Likewise, speaking at a Catholic Social week in 
Camaguey, Cuba, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi of the Pontifical 
Council for Justice and Peace warned against the excesses 
of pacifism.  Crepaldi's comments reinforced private 
reassurances the Embassy has received from senior officials 
that the Vatican continues to adhere to its traditional 
doctrine on war and peace issues:  that war is a 
regrettable but sometimes necessary aspect of human 
existence.  There is no doubt that the Holy See and the 
Pope himself oppose war.  But the Vatican's well-known 
preference for peace can make its voice all the more 
important when it does conclude that military action is 
justified.  End summary. 
 
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Rejecting Pacifism 
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2. (U) Affirming the realism reflected in many Papal 
statements and official Church doctrine, the Vatican's 
Secretary for the Council of Justice and Peace restated the 
 
SIPDIS 
Holy See's rejection of pacifism as a utopian response to 
war and violence.  Speaking at a Catholic Social week in 
Camaguey, Cuba, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi said that 
pacifism, while generally a positive good, runs the risk of 
overstatement.  Crepaldi, the number two in the Council, 
implied that a total rejection of all forms of violence 
would be neither helpful nor realistic in today's world. 
He pointed out that Pope John Paul II could never be called 
a pacifist.  As proof, he noted the Pope's call for 
humanitarian intervention during the Balkan wars, his 
consistent appreciation of the sacrifice and valor of those 
killed in defense of their homelands, and the fact that he 
has never condemned wars "in a single sense." 
 
3.(U) The Holy See's Permanent Observer to the UN in 
Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, delivered a similar 
message recently, citing Pope John Paul's Message for the 
2000 World Day of Peace.  In this message the Pope 
addressed the issue of "humanitarian intervention," 
observing:  "Clearly, when a civilian population risks 
being overcome by the attacks of an unjust aggressor and 
political efforts and non-violent defense prove to be of no 
avail, it is legitimate and even obligatory to take 
concrete measures to disarm the aggressor.  These measures 
however must be limited in time and precise in their aims. 
They must be carried out in full respect for international 
law, guaranteed by an authority that is internationally 
recognized and, in any event, never left to the outcome of 
armed intervention alone." 
 
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Pope John Paul II: No Pacifist 
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4. (SBU) The comments by Tomasi and Crepaldi come at a time 
when some in the Church have sought to advance the view 
that war in today's world can no longer be considered just. 
Such a view, however, goes well beyond the Pope's thinking, 
and it is likely that Crepaldi's comments, which would have 
been cleared internally, were aimed at setting the record 
straight.  Certainly, the Pope rejects war as a tool of 
international policymaking.  On December 16, in fact, in an 
address to new ambassadors, he lamented the continuing 
presence of the "scourge of war" and reiterated his appeal 
"to all men and women of good will to definitively lay down 
arms and to commit themselves to...dialogue."  The Pope 
emphasized that "violence never serves the cause of 
peoples, nor their development."  However, both he and the 
Holy See's traditional just war doctrine have consistently 
recognized that when faced with violence, civilized peoples 
sometimes have no choice but to face the last resort of 
responding in kind.  In the period immediately preceding 
the 2003 military action against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the 
Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, as 
well as official papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls, 
were at pains to stress that Pope John Paul II and the Holy 
See were not pacifists, but rather peacemakers. 
 
5. (SBU) More recently, the Pope has affirmed that states 
have the obligation to defend themselves against terrorism. 
 
In his Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace he spoke of 
"the necessary fight against terrorism" and acknowledged 
the potential necessity of the use of force for "repressive 
and punitive operations."  Similarly, the Pontiff's calls 
to "disarm the aggressor" at the time of the conflicts in 
Bosnia, Kosovo, and later in East Timor hardly reflect the 
sentiments of a pacifist.  The position of the Catholic 
Church documented officially in its catechism is clear, 
regarding war as a regrettable but sometimes necessary 
aspect of human existence.  Catholic doctrine upholds the 
right to self-defense for individuals and nations. 
Citizens are required to participate in the defense of 
their nation in wartime.  Members of the military are 
described as "servants of security and freedom of nations." 
 
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Prelates Pushing Anti-War Views 
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6. (U) Ironically, Crepaldi's comments will be seen by many 
as at cross-purposes with the views of his boss, Justice 
and Peace Council President, Cardinal Renato Martino, who 
recently asserted that war constituted a modern evil 
"infinitely greater than the eventual goods" it can procure 
for the victors.  Martino, who tends to offer his personal 
views in his frequent contacts with the media, added that 
war had become ever more absurd and intolerable because of 
the increased destructive power of weapons.  He also 
condemned what he termed the human and economic costs of 
war.  Martino said it was a fundamental ethical imperative 
to put an end once and for all to war, which he described 
as "pre-human." 
 
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Battle Over Pacifism Not over 
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7.(SBU) Although the Pope's view is clear to members of 
the Curia, this will not likely put an end to debate within 
the Holy see about the proper role of warfare in the modern 
world.   Members of the Vatican hierarchy do not hesitate 
to speak their minds on political issues -- as opposed to 
theological issues where the Pope's word is law.  As a 
result, the public perception of the Holy See's position on 
war and peace is likely to remain clouded by ongoing 
freelancing by senior Vatican officials.  Such freelancing 
is tantamount to U.S. Cabinet officers giving their 
independent opinions on U.S. policy issues, and will 
continue to feed the media's penchant for emphasizing 
statements by cardinals or other Curia members at variance 
with traditional doctrines.  Thus, even as the Pope 
reaffirms his rejection of pacifism, contrary views will 
continue to be publicly aired. 
 
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Comment 
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8.(U) The Pope's opposition to the war in Iraq left a 
widespread impression of a Vatican opposed to war at all 
costs, even though the Pope's opposition at the time 
carried careful caveats and ultimately recognized the right 
of legitimately-elected governments to make prudential 
judgments about war.  Church leaders with more absolute 
anti-war views have sought to take advantage of the Pope's 
opposition to the Iraq war to build support for a shift in 
the Church's doctrine toward a complete condemnation of all 
war.  While this struggle will continue, the Holy See's 
practice on war and peace issues will more likely reflect 
the realism -- rooted in centuries of diplomatic activism 
on the world stage -- that led it to approve of the U.S. 
action in Afghanistan and to calls for humanitarian 
intervention to ward off greater loss of life in Timor and 
Kosovo.  Likewise, the Vatican's abhorrence of religiously- 
inspired terrorism -- violence the Pope has described as 
"an act of blasphemy and a perversion of religion" -- will 
spur it to remain a strong partner in the war on terror. 
In fact, its well-known preference for peace makes its 
voice all the more important when it does conclude that 
military action, whether against terror or to resolve a 
humanitarian catastrophe, is justified. 
 
Nicholson 
 
 
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