Above photo: Pope Leo XIV.
We appear to be in uncharted territory as His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, leader of the largest branch of the world’s largest religion, has repeatedly and clearly labeled Operation Epic Fury an immoral war. He has called on its participants to “lay down your weapons,” a call heard by more than 250,000 U.S. service members who are Catholic.
At the Center on Conscience and War, we are already working with several soldiers who called us in the wake of Pope Leo’s statements, specifically citing his intervention as their motivation to file as a Conscientious Objector–the only legal option soldiers have to refuse participation.
But what does the public anti-war stand by the first American Pope, echoed by the top American leaders of the Church, actually mean for the rights of soldiers to become Conscientious Objectors?
A New ‘Just War’ Understanding
The Catholic Church has long been known as adhering to the “Just War” doctrine which has very specific guidelines, among them, war can be an option only when all prospects of peace have been exhausted; prohibiting attacks on civilian populations; ensuring damage to the environment is limited.
On these terms, Just War is not possible in the modern American political climate and with our current war-making capabilities.
The Popes of the modern era have made that case. The late Holy Fathers John Paul II and Benedict XVI openly questioned whether Just War was a relic of a bygone era. Pope Francis, who filled the leadership ranks of the current Church, wrote:
“…the events of the first two decades of this century compel me to add, unambiguously, that there is no occasion in which a war can be considered just.”
Pope Leo XIV has taken that trajectory to a conclusion. The US is not engaged in Just War, nor can it in our current reality. (The Supreme Court has held that a Conscientious Objector need only answer for a war they may actually face, not one based on hypothetical circumstances.)
What that means is, filing as a Conscientious Objector now is following Just War doctrine of the Church. A follower of Just War teachings can honestly and legally make this claim.
New Power For Conscientious Objectors
In the eyes of military law, Conscientious Objectors need only prove the sincerity of what they personally believe, not what the leader of their faith tells them.
But the Holy Father’s pleas for peace do give our troops new confidence and authority to file as COs.
He has provided a moment of crystallization: a specific moment required in CO claims where the applicant can identify as knowing from that point on they could no longer justify their participation in today’s wars.
He has given an earthly voice to the voice of the conscience; while it is hard for many to articulate what they experience as innate knowledge of God’s law, he has helped them put it to words.
He has bestowed the confidence: soldiers under enormous weight of social pressure, fear and intimidation, can declare their objection not as some black sheep, but as part of a massive flock shepherded by the pastor of the world.
He has offered an unshakable moral credibility: so many join the military because they want to do good. To be honorable. To be a righteous person. Those feelings never go away. He has set a path, drawn from the gospel, to accomplish those ideals. And it leads to laying down our weapons. It leads to conscientious objection.
Hearing the Words Is Not Enough–Soldiers Must Know Their Options
Our hotline continues to ring with new conscientious objectors on the other end, as a result of the example set by His Holiness.
Many are Catholics themselves. Many are Christians who respect the Pope. Many are not religious, yet feel drawn to his moral clarity.
All of them heard another voice first–the voice of the conscience–before they heard Pope Leo affirm it. With those two voices they have heard, as the Church understands it, are one voice: the voice of God.
One of them, a young Catholic soldier from Fort Bragg, called us a day before his deployment to the war. We filed an expedited CO claim to get him off the deployment, as we have successfully done with several others. But his command decided to disobey the regulations and made him go, forcing him to violate his conscience. We are just beginning to understand the profound consequences of that violation – what we now call moral injury. If we had reached him sooner, we would’ve had more time to hold his command accountable to the regulations and the law. There are so many more soldiers of conscience like him.
For every soldier who has called us for help, there are thousands of soldiers who do not know they can. Thousands who are suffering a crisis of conscience, in deep spiritual torment, unaware there are legal rights and services available to them to support them in actively resisting what they might believe is inevitable.
The role of the Church is the steward of the conscience. There are soldiers of conscience (and their family members) in churches across the country who hear the call to lay down their weapons but do not know that they can and do not know that we will help them.
Leo XIV has said the words. We must make sure every soldier knows their rights to follow those words.
CCW provides free, professional counseling to any service member interested in conscientious objection, and stand by them as legal counsel through the entire process. You can contact us anytime at (877) NO-2-WARS or ccw@centeronconscience.org
