The Pope's response was four words: "I have no fear." Then he went back to work.
Now JD Vance. Catholic convert, 2019, sponsored into the faith by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, which is already its own essay on the relationship between wealth and religious sincerity, but we'll move on.
Not long after his conversion, Vance invoked a Catholic theological concept called ordo amoris -- the order of love, a principle traced directly to St. Augustine -- to justify the administration's immigration crackdowns.
The argument: we naturally owe greater love to those closest to us, so less to outsiders, so the cruelty is theologically defensible. Catholic scholars dismantled him publicly. Then-Cardinal Prevost reposted the rebuttals. One headline said it plainly: "JD Vance is wrong. Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
This week, Vance told the Pope to stick to matters of morality.
About a war.
Let's be precise about why that is spectacular.
The Catholic Church has a fully developed Just War doctrine -- Jus ad Bellum -- built by Augustine in the fifth century, refined by Aquinas in the thirteenth, and still operative today.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
Post Article Comment and Rate This Article
