Defending Pope Francis on the Atomic bomb

Pope Francis’ new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” is odd in a number of ways (e.g. he does not address it to anyone), but its teaching is solidly Catholic. The pope is simply summarizing and applying traditional Catholic social doctrine on the kinds of unity and solidarity to which we are called as Catholics. 

Father John Carville’s recent two-part summary in The Catholic Commentator of the encyclical does a good job of highlighting this, the context in which Pope Francis is writing and the controversy that will undoubtedly follow. Controversy, however, does not mean Pope Francis is wrong in condemning the use of atomic bombs. Though he does not do so unequivocally in “Fratelli Tutti,” he makes clear elsewhere that the remembrance for which he calls in paragraph 248 is memory of a moral atrocity. As he has said elsewhere, “The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral.”

Concerning warfare, there are two legitimate Catholic opinions: pacifism and just war. Both are a deep part of our patrimony, and in Pope Francis’ papacy they are drawing closer to each other. Yet in neither of these is the use of atomic bombs just. 

According to pacifism all violence is unjust, so of course the atomic bomb is unjust. 

According to the just war tradition, a just war requires  we have justice on our side in going to war, and also in conducting war. 

One of the criteria for justice in conducting war is the discrimination of combatants from non-combatants. In other words, justice requires that we do not directly target innocent civilians. 

The atomic bomb, on the other hand, cannot but target innocent civilians directly. Is it possible to drop an atomic bomb on a city and not intend to kill civilians? No. Can a city be a military target? No. Vatican II is clear on this point, stating in the catechism, “Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities of extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself.  It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation.”

The catechism adds “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.”

Just war criteria and Vatican II do not, however, explain why the use of atomic bombs is wrong. Why is directly targeting civilians wrong in war? It follows from the way Catholics think about justice  to give each his or her due. Is an innocent person due death? Is that the right way to treat someone who is innocent? Of course not! 

One will notice here the same principle that underlies Catholic opposition to abortion  directly killing the innocent is always wrong. If one approves of the atomic bomb, one must also approve abortion. The two stand or fall together, like many Catholic moral commitments. Catholic ethics stand beyond the simplistic conservative/liberal divide. 

But what if the atomic bomb saves lives? It certainly seems to be the case that overall fewer people died because we dropped the bomb (proportionality, in Catholic ethical lingo). Shouldn’t we then recognize it as the lesser evil and choose it? 

The short answer is no because Catholics do not specify the goodness of an action based on outcomes alone. St. Paul teaches that we should not “let us not do evil that good may come.”

St. John Paul II likewise taught this forcefully in Veritatis Splendor, and Pope Francis is continuing to defend JPII’s legacy on this point. I do not mean to paper over difficult questions (and there are many related to the lesser evil principle), but any understanding of the principle (and there are multiple historically) cannot be one where the only consideration is calculated outcomes (e.g. number of lives saved).

If outcomes were all that mattered, any action could result in more ‘net’ good depending on the circumstances  fornication with a Nazi guard, genocide, paying unjust wages, contraception, slavery, abortion, lying, denying asylum, racism, etc. Yet Catholic teaching rejects all of these.

Does living a commitment to justice as a part of our Catholic faith make our lives more difficult? Yes, definitely. That’s part of the way we know our theology means something. Sometimes you are required to suffer for it. We do not preach a prosperity Gospel where following Christ is always comfortable and means success in this world. 

Nevertheless, God does not leave us stranded  he gives us the imagination to seek out alternative paths and the grace to follow them. In opposing the oppressor, we cannot become the oppressor. By targeting innocent civilians, we did just that. 

MEINERT is an Associate Professor of Theology, specializing in Moral Theology at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University.