Vatican: Military action against ISIS “is probably necessary”

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Ed Morrissey

August 12, 2014

 

It’s not a call for a massive invasion, but the messaging from Vatican officials sounds a lot more friendly to military action than usual. Longtime Vaticanista John Allen expressed surprise yesterday at the sometimes-grudging approval coming from the Holy See about American intervention against ISIS, noting that it stands in stark contrast to its opposition to both Iraq wars. And this approval comes not via background briefings, but very official communications:

 

 

Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, the pope’s ambassador to Baghdad, told Vatican radio that the American strikes are “something that had to be done, otherwise [the Islamic State forces] could not be stopped.”

 

Lingua spoke plaintively of the ordeals faced by an estimated 100,000 Christian refugees from northern Iraq – many of whom, he said, are children – to account for his view of the American campaign.

 

(snip)

 

 

Normally, the Vatican opposes military interventions of most varieties. As Allen concludes in this article, the events of the last few weeks have outstripped the pacifist approaches preferred by the Holy See, and the brutality of ISIS and its clearly annihilationist ambitions make it clear that this situation requires more active responses. “‘Give peace a chance’ may work as a fervorino,” Allen writes, “but as foreign policy it doesn’t quite do the trick.”

 

(Snip)

 

 

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TOS

[Valin]

Breaking: Pope Francis endorses force to stop ISIS; Update: CNN says “punts on airstrikes”

Ed Morrissey

August 18, 2014

 

We already got hints of this over the last couple of weeks, as Vatican officials spoke on the record in support of limited military action to rescue the Yazidis. The Boston Globe’s veteran Vaticanista John Allen noted the stunning change of tone from the previous two international forays into Iraq, but warned in an interview on The Ed Morrissey Show that it sounded more like a “yellow light” than a full-fledged endorsement of war. Allen also pointed out that it looked as though the Vatican was taking some care to separate Pope Francis himself from whatever endorsement of military action they were signaling.

 

Not any more, according to the Associated Press. This time the Pontiff himself has endorsed military action, but with at least one significant condition:

 

 

Pope Francis has endorsed the use of force in Iraq to stop Islamic militants from attacking religious minorities but says the international community — and not just one country — should decide how to intervene.

 

 

Reuters corroborates the AP report with some direct quotes from Francis about the legitimacy of force in stopping an unjust aggression:

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Mosul’s Christians recount flight from historic home under ISIS threat
Benjamin Hall
August 19, 2014


Aws, a 10-year-old Iraqi Christian boy, has spent much of his young life fleeing jihadists. Munira Aziz, 74,pictured behind him, considers herself fortunate to have escaped ISIS. (Benjamin Hall)

 

SULEMANIYAH, Iraq – In a church in the northern Iraq city of Sulemaniyah, Munira Aziz lay in a corner, her hip broken, her voice almost gone and a piece of cardboard the 74-year-old woman's only protection from the blistering sun streaming in through a broken window.

 

About 170 miles from the home in Mosul she may never see again, she was at least safe. She considers herself lucky.

 

“We heard the gunshots outside our door, and knew the terrorists were killing Christians,” Aziz said in a raspy whisper. “But we hoped someone might rescue us. We cowered inside for two days, then knew we had to leave. We gathered some clothes and left at night.”

 

Mosul, a home to Christians for two millennia, has been purged of them. Long a minority on the vast Ninevah plains, and accustomed to persecution, they nonetheless survived alongside Muslims. But when the bloodthirsty jihadist marauders known as Islamic State moved in, seizing Iraq's second-largest city and announcing a caliphate of strict Shariah law, Christian homes were marked with the letter "N," for Nasare – a Muslim term for Christians which derives from Nazareth. They were told to convert to Islam or die. Those who could, fled, said Aziz.

 

(Snip)