In New Hampshire voters put candidates to the test, GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is reported to have told a hostile questioner, "But as you know, my faith, my Catholic faith, as well as Christian faith, has a theory called 'just war' theory."
Santorum is on dangerous ground when he speaks of just war. Explicit in the Church's just war doctrine is the expectation the decision to go to war will be made only after "rigorous consideration" of strict conditions by "those who have responsibility for the common good." In other words, the decision to go to war must be made only by elected officials who have made the most deliberate and serious analysis of the situation and in consideration of their duty to the common good. That does not include war-mongering by political opportunists who are willing to pervert the tools of modern communication to achieve their personal goals.
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