Cardinals Back Pope’s “Outdated” Verdict on Just War

So, yet another doctrine of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church falls victim to the chopping block of the modernist headsmen. Is nothing sacred?

From Aleteia

By I. Media

The terminology is shifting toward proportionate defense, as the means and scope of war is so vastly different than in the times of St. Augustine.

During the second session of the consistory -- the meeting of the world's cardinals -- convened by Leo XIV, on the afternoon of June 26, 2026, the cardinals supported the Pope’s wish to move beyond the just war theory, as set out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. According to a summary of the discussions published by the Holy See Press Office, they preferred instead to draw on the concept of the "right to proportionate defense."

In the Paul VI Hall, Cardinal Victor Fernández, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, opened the proceedings on the theme of the culture of power and the civilization of love – drawing inspiration from the encyclical Magnifica humanitas. He spoke at length about Leo XIV’s call, in that text, to move beyond the theory of just war.

The Prefect said, though, that “not only the practice, but also the very concept of self-defense" must be clarified further so that it may be understood in its strictest sense.

Consequently, what the Encyclical now adds with regard to the Catechism’s teachings on just war is  that not only the application but also the very notion of legitimate self-defence must be more clearly  defined so that it can be understood in its strictest sense. Thus, the very notion of just war must be revised and refined, lest the classic criteria for a just war become useless and ineffective in today’s  world.

The traditional criterial are becoming "useless and ineffective," he said, and condemned “the enormous disproportion in military interventions” in various parts of the world, under the pretext of self-defense, noting situations ranging from Gaza to southern Lebanon.

Subsequently, the cardinals, meeting in small discussion groups, also took up this theme. “Many groups agreed on the need to move beyond the logic of ‘just war,’ as the Gospel is not imposed by force, and to speak instead of a right to proportionate defense,” stated the Holy See Press Office.

Continuing their assessment of the world’s suffering, the cardinals also denounced the temptation “to conform to the logic of the powerful, to normalize war.” They emphasized in particular the role of interfaith dialogue, but also “that of political power, freed from its toxic link with economic power.”

Numerous reports have praised Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, published last May, on humanity in the age of artificial intelligence. They affirmed that “the Pope’s stern words in the encyclical regarding the Church’s delay in condemning slavery have opened the hearts of millions of people to the Gospel.”