Bishops and the Bomb

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and chemical weapons, but forbade these methods if they "entirely escape from the control of man" or cause the "annihilation of all human life within the radius of action." Pius, who denounced saturation bombing even before the inferno of Hiroshima, declared that wars of righteous aggression, in order to punish an offense or to recover territory, could no longer be justified because modern weaponry had become so devastating. Wars of national self-defense, however, were still permitted.

At Vatican II, a coalition of U.S. and European bishops persuaded the council to accept, grudgingly, the idea of nuclear deterrence. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, promulgated in 1965, declares: "Since the defensive strength of any nation is considered to be dependent upon its capacity for immediate retaliation, this accumulation of arms . . . serves, in a way heretofore unknown, as a deterrent to possible enemy attack. Many regard this as the most effective way by which peace of a sort can be maintained between nations at the present time."

The council also said that it was morally right for Catholics to be pacifists, denounced the costly arms race and called for disarmament, "not unilaterally" but at an "equal pace," and "backed by adequate and workable safeguards." The bishops at Vatican II further declared, "Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself." The World Council of Churches, which represents 350 million Protestant and Orthodox Christians, had said much the same thing four years earlier.

The U.S. bishops' peace offensive began with a pastoral letter in 1976. It declared that modern conflict "is so savage that one must ask whether war as it is actually waged today can be morally justified." The bishops said that no Christians can "rightfully carry out orders or policies requiring direct force against noncombatants." Then came this key statement: "As possessors of a vast nuclear arsenal, we must also be aware that not only is it wrong to attack civilian populations but it is also wrong to threaten to attack them as part of a strategy of deterrence." The bishops were applying the traditional teaching that it is as wrong to intend to commit an evil act as it is to commit it. In 1979, testifying on behalf of the hierarchy before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Cardinal Krol went further. He flatly ruled out use or "declared intent" to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances, presumably because masses of civilians would inevitably be involved.

The final phase in the evolution of peace theology was the formation in 1980 of the Bernardin committee. Archbishop Roach skillfully chose the membership of the five-man committee to span the spectrum of the bishops' thinking on nuclear arms. The most liberal member of the committee is Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 52, of Detroit, who heads Pax Christi, a movement with strong pacifist inclinations. A total of 57 bishops belong to the organization. Gumbleton's hawkish opposite on the committee is Bishop John O'Connor, 62, who runs the church's military ministry for Cardinal Cooke. The committee is rounded out by two moderates: Bishop Daniel P.