484. You can’t ask a country under attack not to defend itself

This, more or less, is what Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin says. And why does he say this? In my opinion, he says this for the benefit of all those people, like the pacifists, who say that in order not to have war one must not use weapons, and this thought is also attributed to the church and its leader, the Pontiff. But the matter is not quite like that.

It is true, if there were no weapons, that is, means with which one can kill, there would be no wars either. But to say that if a country is attacked as Ukraine is by Russia, Ukraine cannot be asked not to use and request weapons to defend itself, because as Cardinal Parolin explains, self-defence is foreseen in the principles of the Church.

Of course, legitimate defence means that war has not been sought, has not been provoked, has not gone beyond the rules of good neighbourliness, thus instigating others to attack. It is by saying only this that one is labelled as pro-Russian, but that's not how it really stands- since it cannot be denied that whoever casts the first stone passes from right to wrong.

 Whoever wants to understand, let him perceive.