Summaries / Resúmenes - Studia Moralia

POPE JOHN PAUL II AND THE WAR IN IRAQ 319for not explicitly condemning specific acts of belligerent nationsin the Second World War, (and also of not speaking out againstthe Nazi killing of Jews). This is a complex question. If he spokeout against one side, he would forego his position of neutralityand with that his ability to mediate on behalf of peace. Oneinterpretation, by the historian Owen Chadwick, is that the Popebelieved that he did make explicit condemnations of atrocities.But his statements were cast in a diplomatic style which was soobscure that the meaning was not obvious to most people, evenif it was clear to the Nazis themselves. 25 Pius XII did condemnexplicitly the killing of innocents in reprisals. 26 Paul VI, in hismessage for the World Day of Peace, Jan 1 st . 1976, was muchmore forthright. He referred to “the butchery of untold magnitude,as at Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.” 27 So it cannot be saidthat specific categorical condemnations were never delivered byPopes.Nevertheless, there was a general policy of avoiding suchcondemnations during the period of conflict. The reason appearsto have been the conviction that such specific condemnationswould alienate particular countries and make the reconcilingactivity of the official Church difficult or impossible. The requirementof “pastoral” reconciliation was given precedence over thedenouncing of wrongs. It is in this respect, in particular, that Isuggest we can see a change in the policy of John Paul II. He hasspoken with a degree of frankness that left little doubt that hewas opposed to the war that was about to begin in Iraq in 2002.The implications of this change require further analysis.An Historical EvaluationHow has the papal peace pastorate fared in the test of history?We may apply some tests, first to the engagement for peace25Owen CHADWICK, Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) 219.26JOBLIN, L’église, 285.27www.vatican/holy-father/paul_vi/messages/peace/documents/hf_pvi_mes19751018_ix-world-day-for-peace_en.html.