Australian Archbishop Outlines ‘Just War’ Principles

THE AUSTRALIAN, Feb. 4 — In an op-ed article, the leading bishop in Australia, Archbishop George Pell, called on his flock to consider the complex, nuanced Catholic doctrine of “just war” in considering their responses to America's contemplated attack on Iraq.

He began by reminding them that Christ calls us to “render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” and comparing America to imperial Rome: a distant, overwhelmingly powerful nation that keeps the peace, which is easy to take for granted or resent.

Archbishop Pell noted that the pacifist strain in Christian thought was rejected by Church Fathers in favor of a doctrine acknowledging the state's duty to “repress evildoers.”

The Australian bishop noted the threat of terrorism might sometimes allow for pre-emptive strikes against those planning such actions.

He said such a “unilateral pre-emptive strike, without international sanction” would prove “a two-edged sword, a dangerous doctrine, destabilizing the international order.”

Scottish Church Rallies Catholic Voters

THE HERALD (U.K.), Feb. 10 — In Scotland, several anticlerical political candidates oppose the existence of Catholic and other parochial schools, and Church leaders there have asked the faithful to vote to preserve religious education, according to The Herald.

In response, some British observers have accused Catholic leaders of attempting to corral parishioners into voting as a bloc.

The Church will prepare for the May 1 vote by sending a letter, signed by seven bishops, to regular churchgoers reminding them that Catholic schools are in danger.

Ivan Middleton of the Humanist Society of Scotland denounced the move, saying, “I think that most Catholics will think for themselves — it reeks of being the school bully.” The letter, however, merely asks each voter to be “guided by your conscience” in the voting booth.

Gerard Depardieu Embraces God in Notre Dame

THE OBSERVER (U.K.), Feb. 9 — The fiery French movie star Gerard Depardieu, who has played in both racy erotic thrillers and an adaptation of George Bernanos’ Catholic novel, Under the Son of Satan, has returned to the Church, The Observer reported.

Depardieu credits his conversion to a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 2000: “He looked at me and told the cardinals around him: ‘You must talk to him about St. Augustine,’” Depardieu recalled. “I had to admit that I knew nothing about him.”

There was some talk of a film adaptation of Augustine's Confessions. The film never came off, but Depardieu bought the book and kept it by his bedside. Eventually, it won him over.

The actor planned to mark his conversion in theatrical fashion by offering a dramatic reading from Confessions at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and explaining how it drew him back to God.

Depardieu told a French paper: “Augustine's quest touched me personally because it reflected my own fragility. … I have a mystical, religious temperament, colored by a persistent temptation to ask: Why? In Augustine, I have rediscovered these questions, the quest for truth — the why of what we are.”