Dipping into the Catechism 482-487

WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR EARTHLY PEACE ?
Earthly peace requires the equal distribution and safeguarding of the goods of persons, free
communication among human beings, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the
assiduous practice of justice and fraternity.
WHEN IS IT MORALLY PERMITTED TO USE MILITARY FORCE ?
The use of military force is morally justified when the following conditions are present at the
same time:
– The suffering inflicted by the aggressor must be lasting, grave and certain;
– All other peaceful means must have been shown to be ineffective;
– There are well founded prospects of success;
– The use of arms, especially given the power of modern weapons of mass destruction,
must not produce evils graver than the evil to be eliminated.
IN DANGER OF WAR, WHO HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RIGOROUS
EVALUATION OF THESE CONDITIONS ?
This responsibility belongs to the prudential judgment of government officials who also have
the right to impose on citizens the obligation of national defence. The personal right to
conscientious objection makes an exception to the obligation which should then be carried
out by an other form of service to the human community.
IN CASE OF WAR, WHAT DOES THE MORAL LAW REQUIRE ?
Even during a war the moral law always remains valid. It requires the humane treatment of
noncombatants, wounded soldiers and prisoners of war. Deliberate actions that are contrary
to the law of nations, and the orders that command such actions are crimes, which blind
obedience does not excuse. Acts of mass destruction must be condemned and likewise the
extermination of peoples or ethnic minorities, which are most grievous sin. One is morally
b o u n d t o r e s i s t t h e o r d e r s t h a t c o m m a n d s u c h a c t s .
WHAT MUST BE DONE TO AVOID WAR ?
Because of the evils and injustices that all war brings with it, we must do everything
reasonably possible to avoid it. To this end it is particularly important to avoid: the
accumulation and sale of arms which are not regulated by the legitimate authorities; all forms
of economic and social injustice; ethnic and religious discrimination; envy, mistrust, pride
and the spirit of revenge. Everything done to overcome these and other disorders contributes
to building up peace and avoiding war.
The sixth commandment: YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY
What responsibility do human persons have in regard to their own sexual identity ?
(from the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
“God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the
human race in His own image…, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the
vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. (CCC 2331).
Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his or her body and soul. It
especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general
way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others.
Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical,
moral and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage
and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part
on the way in which the complementarity, needs and mutual support between the sexes are
lived out.
Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity
though in a different way. The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in
the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity. All human generations proceed from this
union.
Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins.