THE HOLY FATHER'S VITAL STATEMENT

THE Holy Father, in his recent
address to doctors, has returned once more to the most anxious international moral problem of our times : the waging of war by means of modern weapons whose very nature is instinctively repellent to the human conscience, whether by reason of their nature in themselves or the range of wanton destruction which they inflict.
In this address, the Pope has for the first time absolutely and finally condemned under any circumstances a certain mode of warfare.
In doing this, the Holy Father seems to pass from the hypothetical type of moral teaching in this field: "If certain conditions are not fulfilled, then ." to, in effect, the categorical one: "An all-annihilating weapon can never be used under any conditions."
However, it is necessary to study more closely the nature of this latest condemnation. What the Pope appears to be condemning is this.
Where the use of atomic or other weapons escapes altogether the control of those who use 'them so that within the range of their use all human life is purely and simply destroyed, then the moralist cannot apply any longer the normal moral defence of just warfare, namely legitimate sel f defence against injustice and the legitimate defence of what is ours.
It needs little imagination to appreciate the enormous importance for Christians of this Papal ruling.
The Pope, indeed, maintains the traditional teaching about atomic, bacteriological and chemical weapons in general, namely that they may be used in legitimate selfdefence, subject to all possible restrictions that ensure that this and nothing else is their purpose and their precise use. But the question immediately arises as to how far
the H-bomb, as it is being developed today, or for that matter modern germ warfare, can be controlled so that they do not in fact annihilate all human life within the area of warfare?
No doubt, this is a question of fact about which only the competent scientific a n d military authorities can pronounce.
But the evidence which the layman possesses most strongly suggests that already the use of the IIbomb, especially if used in any quantity to destroy a powerful modern enemy, must annihilate all human life over enormous territorial areas.
Though there are other tactical uses of such armaments, the further development of these weapons suggests that the present range of wholesale destruction will be greatly increased.
The Pope's actual words were spoken in French, and we think it worth while printing them here: "Quand toutefois la mire en ceuvre de ce 2noyen entraine une extension telle du mal qu'il echappe entierement au contr6le de l'homme, son utilisation dolt etre referee comme immorale. Ici it ne s'agirait plus de defense' contra ?injustice et de la 'sauvegarde' necessaire de possessions legitimes, mais de ?annihilation pure et simple de toute vie humaine a ?interieur du rayon d'action. Cela n'est permis d aucun titre."
The exact meaning of the term "rayon d'action," whether it is the sphere of the action of the war as a whole, or of the battle, or of the actual use of the particular weapons involved, may well require further interpretation.
However this be, it seems clear that the highest authority of the Church has taken a decisively new step in forming the Christian conscience in the face of the manmade terror of our times.