“Ask a Priest: Did the Pope Ban All Wars?”
Q: Looking at the section on war in Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, I was wondering if I misunderstand. Did the Holy Father do away with just-war theory? – K.S.
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A: The short answer is no, the Holy Father didn’t “do away” with just-war theory.
What he did do was say that it’s harder and harder to meet the conditions required for a just war.
He writes in No. 258 of the encyclical, “We can no longer think of war as a solution, because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.’ Never again war!”
Notice how he hedges his language — “will probably always be greater” and “it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria …”
He isn’t categorically ruling out just war theory altogether. Rather, he is saying that the traditional conditions for it are less likely to be found nowadays.
Pope Francis notes that the Catechism speaks of the possibility of legitimate defense by means of military force, as long as “rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy” have been met.
But he cautions that it is “easy to fall into an overly broad interpretation of this potential right,” noting that in recent decades every war was presented by its instigators as a “just war.”
All of this recalls something of the tightening of the criteria regarding capital punishment. The Church leans more and more against the death penalty because modern prisons (in theory) allow for incarceration that could amply protect society without resorting to the taking of human life.
In other words, the Pope is urging people to rethink the very use of war, though he isn’t saying it’s prohibited absolutely.
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Back in 2017, Siobhan O’Connor, a Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi, was finishing up a four-and-a-half-year stint as the high school campus minister at Pinecrest Academy, a preK-12 Regnum Christi school in Cumming, Georgia. Throughout those years as campus minister, one thing was becoming increasingly apparent to Siobhan – recent Catholic school graduates were having a hard time transitioning to increasingly secular college life. With many of her former students sharing their difficulties, Siobhan felt a clear call from the Holy Spirit to spiritually reach out to those struggling graduates. What started out as casually visiting with students on various college campuses, offering spiritual direction, or meeting for long chats over coffee, quickly turned into an outreach that spanned eight colleges across four states. By the fall of 2020, Siobhan had met with about 200 Catholic college students who, like her Pinecrest graduates, were seeking guidance on how to live a life of faith on the secular college campus. 
“While giving children a firm foundation is extremely important, it is critical to not leave them hanging when they enter college or the workforce, because everything is changing for them,” says Siobhan, who believes that the continued formation, accompaniment, and spiritual mentorship of Catholic young adults, especially once they leave school, is a crucial role of the Church today. “This is where we as a Church and as a spiritual family need to focus our efforts of evangelization and continuing formation.”
One example of teamwork were the weekend retreats and spiritual exercises that Siobhan would host with Legionary priests, RC members and other consecrated women throughout the year.
The personal connections that Siobhan has made throughout her ministry with young adults has nurtured her own faith as well. “I think what surprised me the most was how important a personal connection is with someone you are hoping to lead closer to Christ, but also how God works in your own heart through each connection,” she says. “Many times, I perceive that those of us in some kind of ministry role think that we are the channels of God’s grace to the people we serve and reach out to, which is sometimes the case. But truthfully, it is the person who comes to us in some kind of need who ends up being the instrument of God for us, if we are humble and open enough to receive his grace through them.” 
Currently in Texas on a year-long sabbatical while she recovers from an illness, Siobhan continues her ministry by providing ongoing spiritual direction to several women who have requested it. She is also in the midst of finishing up a three-year certificate in Spiritual Direction with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in Boston, a course which she feels has been incredibly fruitful and helpful, both in her ministry of mentoring young adults, and in her own faith life.
While Siobhan continues her sabbatical and recovery, and awaits the new mission to which she will be assigned next year, she looks back at her past ministry with young adults and campus evangelization with gratitude for the fruits it has borne over the years. “I learned so much from each encounter, mission, spiritual direction, vocation fair, talk, or presentation I ever gave,” says Siobhan. “My own faith and trust in God has grown stronger as a result of this incredible mission serving Catholic young adults.”