In Defense of John Paul II, Peacemaker by Justin Raimondo

"A defeat for humanity" is how John Paul II characterized the Iraq conflict. The Vatican rejected the arguments of neoconservatives, who sought to replace the "just war" theory that had ruled the Church since the time of St. Augustine with their own preemptive war doctrine, a throwback to the pagan era. As Bush and his British poodle prepared to go to war over nonexistent "weapons of mass destruction," the Pope sent a message to Roman Catholic military chaplains attending a Vatican-sponsored course on humanitarian law expressing the great "comfort" given to him by the antiwar movement, which was taking to the streets in massive numbers: "It should be clear" at this point in human history, he declared, that a "large part of humanity" has rejected war as a means of resolving conflicts between nations.