<div><A href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9709">http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9709</A></div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>In Defense of Pope Benedict <BR><SPAN class=columntexthead>The Catholic Church is an enemy of the War Party </SPAN></div>  <div><SPAN class=columntexthead>by Justin Raimondo</SPAN></div>  <div><SPAN class=columntexthead></SPAN>&nbsp;</div><SPAN class=columntexthead>  <div>"...It is <A href="http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_08_29/article.html">nonsense</A> to characterize the Vatican as the enemy of Islam and the ally of <A href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=1290">Bush</A> and <A href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;rlz=1B2GGGL_enUS176&amp;q=world%2Bwar%2Biv">the neocons</A> in <A href="http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9603">their efforts</A> to spark a disastrous "<A href="http://www.alamut.com/subj/economics/misc/clash.html">clash of civilizations</A>." Just as the Catholic Church
 was perhaps the most authoritative and powerful voice raised <A href="http://breaking.tcm.ie/2003/01/13/story84104.html">against</A> the invasion of Iraq, so the Vatican <A href="http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:_qQf-obwIToJ:www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/StatementsoftheHolySeeandChurchesintheHolyLand.pdf%2B%22the%2BHoly%2BSee%2Bdeplores%2Bthe%2Battack%2Bon%2BLebanon,%2Ba%2Bfree%2Band%2Bsovereign%2Bnation.%22&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=us&amp;ct=clnk&amp;cd=2">clearly</A> put the onus on the Israelis for launching an <A href="http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE180072006">unjust war</A> against Lebanon – and for essentially the same reasons. </div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>The Church has consistently condemned the brutalities of the Israeli <A href="http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2004/07/09/WORLD_COURT_wideweb__430x234.jpg">occupation</A> of the Holy Land and clearly <A href="http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0516-05.htm">sympathizes</A> with the plight of the
 Palestinians. John Paul II characterized the Iraq war as "<A href="http://www.cjd.org/paper/jp2war.html">a defeat for humanity</A>," and, citing the <A href="http://tinyurl.com/jwwnt">massive antiwar demonstrations</A> that occurred <A href="http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=725">all around the world</A> on the eve of the invasion, <A href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0305-09.htm">called</A> on Catholics to fast in protest. </div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Benedict is not deviating from these stances, but is, instead, seeking to buttress the intellectual foundations of the doctrine – based on the interplay of faith and reason – that gives rise to the Church's antiwar, albeit not pacifistic, stance...." </div></SPAN><p>&#32;
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