No Christian ‘ideal’ in war

Dear Editor, At the recent Memorial Mass for the Irish men who died in World War I, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said they had pursued an ‘ideal’. How can this ideal possibly be consistent with the non-violent teachings of Jesus and thus the Will of God?

The Pope at the time, Benedict XV, said to the national leaders: “In the holy name of God, in the name of our heavenly Father and Lord, by the precious Blood of Jesus, the price of man’s redemption, we adjure you, whom Divine Providence has placed in authority over the nations now at war, to put a final end to this horrible butchery which has been disgracing Europe for a whole year. It is the blood of brothers that is being poured out on land and sea.”

I utterly fail to see any Christian ‘ideal’ in such a tragic event!

Yours etc.,

Máire Mhic Fhearghusa,

Greenhills,

Dublin 12.