"Lay down your arms," says Chicago priest

LouPaulsen LouPaulsen at attbi.com
Wed Mar 19 04:20:13 PST 2003


March 18 - Speaking at a news conference with other representatives of Chicago's anti-war movement, Fr. Robert Bossie of the Eighth Day Center for Justice called on U.S. soldiers, "especially those of the Roman Catholic faith," to "lay down your arms" and refuse to participate in an assault on Iraq.

"This war does not remotely qualify as a 'just war'," said Bossie, "because the United States is not under imminent threat." Bossie cited statements from the Vatican declaring that the U.S. war on Iraq would be a "crime against peace" and would merit "the vengeance of God."

Soldiers participating in this war are at grave risk of sin, Bossie stated.

Asked by a reporter if his opinion would change if Iraq used chemical weapons against U.S. troops, he said it would not. "In that case, Iraq would be using the weapons as a defense against invasion."

Bossie said it was his pastoral duty to give this warning. "When I served in the U.S. military, maintaining and servicing nuclear weapons, and later worked on their development in the private sector, no priest ever counseled me about the morality of what I was doing," he said. Chaplains in the armed forces "must look to their own consciences" in counseling the troops, "but they should be guided by the teachings of the church."



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