by Renato Kizito Sesana |
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What is the teaching of the Catholic Church about violence and non-violence? If you take "The Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1992 edition, in the subject index you find that the voice "non-violence" does not exists, while under "violence" you are referred to two numbers.
Number 1735 is in the context of "Man's Freedom" (women are included, one assumes!) and states that "Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments and other psychological or social factors". The implication is that the use of violence reduced the freedom and the responsibility of every human action, and as such is negative.
The other reference is to number 2306, where it is said that "Those who renounce violence and bloodshed and, in order to safeguard human rights, make use of those means of defence available to the weakest, bear witness to evangelical charity, provided they do so without harming the rights and obligations of other men and societies. They bear legitimate witness to the gravity of the physical and moral risks of recourse to violence, with all its destruction and death".
This is in praise of non-violence, though with a very cautious and, I would say, rather inadequate language. Saying that non-violence is among the "means of defence available to the weakest" does not stress that non-violence is a fact a means that require great conviction and moral strength. Many non-violence activists would rightly not accept this very narrow description of their action, and the redundant warning that their action should not harm "the rights and obligations of other men (again!) and societies".
War and Death Penalty
If you want to understand better the mind of the Catholic Church you can try to check what "The Catechism" say about death penalty and war.
"Death penalty" refers you to "Punishment". Explaining the 5th commandment "you shall not kill" the Catechism explains the concept of legitimate defence, and the fact that love towards oneself is a fundamental principle of morality, and therefore ii is legitimate to insist on respect to one's own right to life. Therefore someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow.
The same principle, applied to the whole society, at number 2266, makes the Catechism state that "Preserving the common good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For this reason the traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as well-founded the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty". This paragraph on death penalty has been changed a few years later, in 1998, precisely because many Catholics objected to death penalty. So it now reads that "the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent".
The Catechism, curiously enough, does not mention that it is also traditional teaching of the Church that the killing of a tyrant or dictator is morally justified, by the same principle that society has the right to defend itself against aggression, in this case represented by a cruel, illegitimate ruler.
The voice "War" in the subject index of the Catechism, refers you to a series of paragraphs from n. 2307 to 317. It is always in the context of the explanation of the 5th commandment, with the subtitle "Safeguarding Peace". The text seems to reluctantly recognize that in some situations war is unavoidable: "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 f lawful self-defence, once all peace efforts have failed".
The text then recalls the traditional doctrine of the "just war".
"The strict conditions for legitimate defence 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 aggressors 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 no produce evils and disorders graver that the evil to be eliminated. The power of the modern means of destruction weights very heavily in evaluating this condition".
The courage of the prophets
One must admit that this teaching on violence, though precise and founded on sound principles, does not appear very inspiring.
Fortunately the Church, in relation to these issues, is much more inspiring when facing real challenges in real life. Many church leaders and association are in the forefront in the campaign to abolish death penalty throughout the world. The Pope does not miss any occasion to plead in favour of people condemned to death. This is in sharp contrast with what is happening in some countries, for instance in the USA, where in spite of a judicial system fraught with errors and mistakes like in any Third World country, death executions are carried out with incredible frequency. One leading runner for the Presidency of the USA, George W. Bush, since taking office as Texas Governor in 1995 has allowed 119 people to be executed by lethal injection.
Similarly, the voice of Pope John Paul II has been raised in the last two decades against any war. It is clear that for the present Pope no war that has recently been waged could be defined "a just war". Often, like during the Gulf War in 1991, the Pope was the only voice of disagreement in the international chorus of approval of the USA and UN military actions. He has never ceased to remind the parties involved in all conflicts that war and violence do no solve the issues, but create new injustices, and represent the renunciation to reason and a defeat for the whole humanity.
The highest point of the Papal teaching on war, violence and peace is contained in his recent message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2000. In it the Pope approaches the reality of war and violence from the perspective of a man of reconciliation and peace. In it, finally, non-violence receives an unconditional support.
Writes the Pope: "In the century we are leaving behind, humanity has been sorely tried by an endless and horrifying sequence of wars, conflicts, genocides and ethnic cleansing which have caused unspeakable suffering: millions and millions of victims, families and countries destroyed, an ocean of refugees, misery, hunger, disease, underdevelopment and the loss of immense resources."
What the causes? The Pope indicates the logic supremacy, the desire to dominate and exploit the others, totalitarian ideologies, crazed nationalism and ancient tribal hatreds. He continues: "The twentieth century bequeaths to us above all else a warning: wars are often the cause of further wars because they fuel deep hatred, create situations of injustices and trample upon people's dignity and rights. Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore, in addition to causing horrendous damage, they prove ultimately futile. War is a defeat for humanity. Only in peace and through peace can respect for human dignity and its inalienable rights be guaranteed."'
The century that is ending does not have only negative aspects. "Against the backdrop of war, humanity honour has been preserved by those who have spoken and worked on behalf of peace. We cannot fail to remember the countless men and women who have contributed to the affirmation and the solemn proclamation of human rights, and who have helped to defeat the various forms of totalitarianism, to put an end to colonialism, to develop democracy and to establish the great international organizations. Those who built their liver on the value of non-violence have given us a luminous and prophetic example. Their example of integrity and loyalty, often to the point of martyrdom, has provided us with rich and splendid lessons."
If there is a conclusion to be drawn from the passage of official documents of the Catholic Church here reported is that the teaching of the Church in relation to violence and war is changing. In the span of two decades has distanced itself from justifying the use of force and moved towards the defense of human life - non only the life of the fetous also the life of the felon - and the rejection of war and force as a way to solve internal and international problems.
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