“Stability and peace is not built with reciprocal threats nor with weapons that sow destruction, pain and death” -- Pope Leo XIV
At the core of Christian belief is the axiom that our God is a god of love who created a world that is very good and that has enough for all of us to thrive. God truly loves each of us, not just the people who are like us. Also at the core of our faith is the belief that Jesus is God’s show and tell, in other words, the example of how we are being called to live.
If we believe that God really does love each and every one of the eight or so billion of us living on planet earth, then justification of war becomes difficult. Because every war harms or kills too many of us who didn’t sign up for the fight. At the moment that I am writing this, in the middle of March of 2026, the war against Iran and Hezbollah has resulted in over 3,000 deaths, about half of them civilians, and the displacement of millions of people. The cost to all the parties to the war robs their future of people and resources. For example, it costs the United States roughly one billion dollars per day. Think of the number of homeless people who could be fed and sheltered for that much money. (OK, I’ll do the math – if there are one million homeless people, that would be $1,000 each per day.)
Just for the record, most of the people of Iran do not support its leadership. I am pretty sure that the majority of the girls in the school that was bombed were not training to be militants. Many people in Iran have already made the ultimate sacrifice to express their opposition to the regime. Most of the people in Lebanon are not Hezbollah.
In Catholic tradition, there are two theories that guide our assessment of war. There is a theory of non-violence, which holds that there is always a better answer than war, and the just war theory, dating back to St. Augustine. Both of these lines of thought lead to the condemnation of the war with Iran.
Clearly, the theory of non-violence would condemn the war. Violence begets violence. War creates an appetite for revenge, and it is really hard to get “even enough.” War cannot bring about justice.
Looking at the war through the lens of the just war theory leads us to question the cause of the war. Is it really about a threat, or about the harm that the Iranian regime has done to its own people, or is it about power and oil? Moreover, the war is not being conducted in a way to protect innocent life. What war has?
Going back to the example of Jesus, whom we attempt to follow, we see that He rejected violence. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, and to love our enemies. Jesus taught us to forgive 7 x 70 times. At the time of His arrest in the garden, Jesus told Peter to put his sword away. The only command Jesus ever gave us is to “Love one another.”
Non-violence requires a heaping helping of faith with a side of grace. It requires us to be creative. It encourages us to face injustice in such a way that we walk down the path to justice and peace.
What can we do? We can join with Pope Leo and make our voices heard saying NO TO WAR.
Jeanette Arnquist is a former Director of the Department of Life, Dignity & Justice for the Diocese of San Bernardino. She is retired and living in Tucson, Arizona where she remains active in social concerns ministries.