The
following excerpts are from FoxNews.com:
Pope
Francis on Monday endorsed the use of force to stop Islamic militants
from attacking religious minorities in Iraq but said the
international community -- and not just one country -- should decide
how to intervene.
Francis
also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to
northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with persecuted Christians.
But he said he was holding off for now on a decision.
In
other comments to journalists returning from South Korea, Francis
confirmed he hoped to travel to the United States in September 2015
for a possible three-city tour: to attend a family rally in
Philadelphia and to address Congress in Washington and the United
Nations in New York. He said a Mexico stop on that trip was possible
but not decided yet. He also said he might make one-day visit to
Spain next year.
On
Iraq, Francis was asked if he approved of the unilateral U.S.
airstrikes on militants of the Islamic State who have captured swaths
of northern and western Iraq and northeastern Syria and have forced
minority Christians and others to either convert to Islam or flee
their homes.
"In
these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that
it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor," Francis said. "I
underscore the verb `stop.' I'm not saying `bomb' or `make war,' just
`stop.' And the means that can be used to stop them must be
evaluated."
But,
he said, in history, such "excuses" to stop an unjust
aggression have been used by world powers to justify a "war of
conquest" in which an entire people have been taken over.
"One
nation alone cannot judge how you stop this, how you stop an unjust
aggressor," he said, apparently referring to the United States.
"After World War II, the idea of the United Nations came about:
It's there that you must discuss `Is there an unjust aggression? It
seems so. How should we stop it?' Just this. Nothing more."
His
comments were significant because the Vatican has vehemently opposed
any military intervention in recent years, with St. John Paul II
actively trying to head off the Iraq war and Francis himself staging
a global prayer and fast for peace when the U.S. was threatening
airstrikes on Syria last year.
But
the Vatican has been increasingly showing support for military
intervention in Iraq, given that Christians are being directly
targeted because of their faith and that Christian communities which
have existed for 2,000 years have been emptied as a result of the
extremists' onslaught.
The
U.S. began launching airstrikes against Islamic State fighters on
Aug. 8, allowing Kurdish forces to fend off an advance on their
regional capital of Irbil and to help tens of thousands of religious
minorities escape.
Church
teaching allows for "just wars," when military force can be
justified under certain circumstances. And in recent days, a few
Vatican officials have edged increasingly toward acknowledging the
Iraq situation fits the bill.
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Pope backs use of force against Islamic militants attacking religious minorities in Iraq | Fox News
