How Does the Pope declare a war just or unjust?
The Pope doesn’t. It’s not in his job description, unless you refer to the Swiss Guard which are under his command. The idea of the just war doctrine is to inform the faithful of conditions, and it is up to the those responsible for the common good. In other words, our elected leaders, since we are a republic and not an empire. It’s a bit of a simplification, but certain evil is intrinsic, that is some human actions cannot in any circumstances be made just, such as abortion. Other human actions may be good or evil based on circumstances. War is not always evil in this view. Other writers state that a war that has a good objective such as the liberation of a people is good. Historically, the Pope has called for war. The Crusades were a war with the aim of restoring rights to pilgrimage, securing the Holy Sites of Christendom. Also as the Pope was temporal rule of a large part of Italy from 754 to 1870, he was called to wars of self-defense during this time. Not every act of the Pope is
