|
|
|
|
|
Spending enormous sums to produce ever new types of weapons impedes efforts to aid needy populations;”° it thwarts the development of peoples. Over- armament multiplies reasons for conflict and increases the danger of escalation.
nations and of the international community.
Hence public authorities have the right and duty to regulate
them. The short-term pursuit of private or collective
interests cannot legitimate undertakings that promote
violence and conflict among nations and compromise the
international juridical order.
distrust and pride raging among men and
nations constantly threaten peace and cause wars. Everything
done to overcome these 1941
disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding war:
Insofar as men are sinners, the threat of
war hangs over them and will so continue until Christ
comes again; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by
coming together in charity, violence itself will be
vanquished and these words will be fulfilled: ‘they
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
2318 ‘In [God’s] hand is the l~fe of every living thing and the breath of all mankind’ (Job 12:10). 2319 Every human l~fe,from the moment of
conception until death, is sacred because the human person
has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness
of the living and holy God. person and the holiness of the Creator. 2321 The prohibition of murder does not abrogate
the right to render an unjust aggressor unable to inflict
harm. Legitimate defence is a grave dutyfor whoever is
responsible for the lives of others or the common good. 2322 From its conception, the child has the right
to l~fe. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end
or as a means, is a ‘criminal’ practice (CS 27
§ 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church
imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this
crime against human l~fe. |
|
|
|
|
|