AUSTRALIAN Catholic Bishops’ Conference president, Archbishop Francis Carroll of Canberra and Goulburn, remains unconvinced there is a case to justify a war with Iraq.
He made the point when he participated in an ABC Radio National public debate on the topic, Should We Go to War on Iraq?
During the debate, recorded at Canberra’s Old Parliament House in front of a live audience on February 6, Archbishop Carroll outlined the criteria for a just war.
He said that, in his personal opinion, that criteria had not been met in relation to Iraq.
‘Any right-minded person, of course, would be opposed to war. Nobody would want war,’ Archbishop Carroll said.
But, he said, when confronted by injustice or evil in the world, the ‘just war’ approach, originating in the 5th century with St Augustine, was still the basic principle which people debated.
‘But the requirements for a just war are very strict and I think, because war is such a terrible thing, they have to be interpreted and applied quite strictly.’
