Sacred Scripture Praises Wars Against the Enemies of the Faith
SOURCE
What Popes, Saints, Doctors and Theologians Think Regarding the Lawfulness of War (contd.)
The Death of Agag, by Gustave Doré. God had commanded Samuel to “completely destroy” the Amalekites.
Francisco Suárez, S.J., a theologian of renowned authority in traditional Catholic thought, writes in De Bello, his famous compendium of the Church’s doctrine on war:
War, in itself, is not intrinsically
evil, nor is it forbidden for Christians. This is a truth of Faith
contained expressly in Sacred Scripture, for in the Old Testament the
wars waged by very holy, virile men are praised: “Blessed be Abraham by
the most high God, who created heaven and earth. And blessed be the most
high God, by whose protection the enemies are in thy hands” (Gen.
14:19-20). One reads similar passages about Moses, Josue, Samson,
Gedeon, David, the Machabees, and others, whom time and again God
ordered to make ware against the enemies of the Hebrews; and Saint Paul
says that the saints conquered empires by Faith. The same thing is
confirmed by the witness of the Church Fathers cited by Gratian; and
also Saint Ambrose in several chapters of his book on duties. (Francisco
Suárez, S.J., De Bello, I, 2, in Luciano Pereña Vicente, Teoria de la Guerra en Francisco Suárez [Madrid: C.S.I.C., 1954), Vol. 2, pp. 71, 74.)
