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Moral LifeDeep dive

Aren't pro-life Catholics who support a war being hypocritical?

Moral Life

The short answer

No. War can sometimes be morally justified, so Catholics may disagree about whether a particular war is just. Abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning can never be justified, because they always involve the illegitimate killing of innocent human beings.

War can be justified

Because there are cases in which war is morally justifiable, Catholics are free to disagree about whether a given war meets that standard.

Some acts never can be

Abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning are never justifiable, since each involves the illegitimate killing of innocent human beings. No Catholic may ever support them.

No contradiction

A pro-life Catholic who rightly rejects the killing of the innocent can, without inconsistency, judge a particular war to be justified according to the Church's just war doctrine.