(ZENIT News / Rome, 07.04.2024).- In a strong rebuke, the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See has condemned a recent statement by Catholic leaders in the Holy Land, which suggested that Israel’s current military actions in Gaza do not meet the criteria of a «just war.»
On June 30, the Holy Land Commission for Justice and Peace, under the auspices of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, released a statement questioning the proportionality and justice of Israel’s actions in Gaza. The commission, led by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, highlighted the high civilian death toll as evidence of unjust conduct by Israel.
«As Catholics in the Holy Land who share Pope Francis’s vision for a peaceful world, we are appalled that political actors in Israel and abroad are using the theory of ‘just war’ to legitimize ongoing violence in Gaza,» the statement read. «This theory is being misused to justify the killing of tens of thousands of people, our friends, and our neighbors.»
The statement argued that diplomatic avenues had not been fully explored before the resort to military force and criticized the rationale that prolonged conflict could save future Israeli lives at the expense of present Palestinian lives. «Prioritizing hypothetical future security over the lives of living human beings being killed every day is unacceptable,» the leaders asserted.
In response, the Israeli Embassy in the Vatican issued a statement on July 2, denouncing the commission’s remarks as «religious pretexts and linguistic tricks» that effectively undermine Israel’s right to self-defense. The embassy emphasized that Israel’s objective since the conflict’s inception was to end Hamas’s control over Gaza and prevent future atrocities akin to those committed on October 7, 2023.
The embassy’s response also challenged the portrayal of the conflict as «the war in Gaza» and rejected claims of disproportionate violence, calling such critiques «a false symmetry that reflects bias and one-sidedness.» They underscored the danger posed by Hamas militants embedding themselves within civilian areas, complicating the situation for non-combatants.
The Catholic Church’s Catechism states that for a war to be justified, «the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated» (n. 2309). Pope Francis himself has expressed skepticism about the concept of just war, calling war fundamentally a «lack of dialogue.» A Vatican official recently indicated that the concept of just war is «under review.»
This is not the first clash between the Israeli Embassy and Catholic leaders over statements about the conflict. In December 2023, Ambassador Raphael Schutz accused Cardinal Pizzaballa of making inflammatory remarks after he stated that two Christian women in Gaza were deliberately killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Pope Francis condemned the killings as «terrorism» during his Angelus address on December 17.
Furthermore, in May, the embassy criticized comments made by a Yemeni Nobel laureate at a Vatican conference, who accused Israel of committing «genocide» in Gaza. Ambassador Schutz, while dismissing these statements, reassured that such declarations «should not impact bilateral relations,» emphasizing that they did not represent the Vatican’s official stance.
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