St. Peter “chickened out” (all puns intended) in the courtyard of the high priest when he denied knowing Jesus, but we should avoid labeling the first pope a total coward. He is the only apostle other than John who we know took the risk to follow Jesus to the courtyard in the first place. And before that, when Judas’s plot to betray Jesus (traditionally believed to have been hatched today, on Spy Wednesday) came to fruition in Gethsemane, Peter did not run. He stood his ground to fight to protect Jesus.
The end result of this aggression was Our Lord healing the only casualty, Malchus, and a rebuke of Peter:
Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to pass in this way? (Matt. 26:52-53).
Some Christians take this to mean that pacifism is inherent to the Christian life. Seventh Day Adventist and World War II veteran Desmond Doss is a famous example of this, with his story being told in the film Hacksaw Ridge. Doss endured persecution from his fellow soldiers for refusing to carry a weapon before ultimately earning their undying respect and the Medal of Honor by risking his life and saving seventy-five men in the Battle of Okinawa.
All people, especially Catholics, can admire Doss’s commitment to his beliefs in the face of persecution. We should also emulate him in his selfless heroism.
But do Christ’s words to Peter actually mean that we must embrace pacifism? This depends on whether we are talking about pacifism (the renunciation of violence, even for self-defense) as an ideological position or as an aspect of a specific vocational calling.
Pacifism as an Ideology
Pacifism as an ideology rejects war as inherently immoral.
This immediately runs into some problems for a Catholic. The Church’s “Just War Theory” lays out conditions in which a war can be morally waged in defense against an aggressor. Through over a millennium of teaching and tradition rooted in Scripture, the Church actually states that armed defense is not only a right, but sometimes a duty:
Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility (CCC 2265).
The Catechism goes so far as to say public authorities can legitimately compel their citizens to provide the resources and manpower needed to fight:
Public authorities, in this case, have the right and duty to impose on citizens the obligations necessary for national defense (CCC 2310).
This makes a complete condemnation of all war untenable for Catholics. There are unjust wars that must be condemned, but fighting itself is not inherently immoral. The Church holds that there are circumstances where those in authority are not only permitted, but even obligated to organize a military defense of their community, and where there is a presumption in favor of citizens joining in this cause.
Pacifism as a Vocation
What then about the renunciation of self-defense as part of a specific vocation, as opposed to an ideology that condemns all violence as always and everywhere immoral?
Priests, along with nuns and brothers in religious orders, are forbidden to take up arms, but this is not a condemnation of fighting as such, just as their vows of celibacy do not denigrate marriage and family. Marital love and martial deeds in defense of the innocent are both good things that can be part of the layperson’s vocation, for his good and the good of others. Priests, nuns, and brothers are called to relinquish these things to remind us that there is something, or rather Someone, even higher, more true, and more real in whom these goods are grounded.
The Church appears to extend this option to those who are not in religious life but who nonetheless wish to “renounce violence and bloodshed” as a way of bearing “witness to evangelical charity” and “legitimate witness to the gravity of the physical and moral risks of recourse to violence.” However, the Catechism also makes clear that those who embrace this position must “do so without harming the rights and obligations of other men and societies” (2306). Even if they personally renounce violence, they may not take on an ideology condemning those who heed the call to fight to defend the innocent.
This appears to be the vein of thought in which Our Lord was speaking when he admonished Peter in Gethsemane. He did not say, “It is immoral to fight and defend me.” Rather, his response indicates there was a divine plan based on both justice and mercy, along with his willingness to sacrifice himself so that we might be saved.
Protection of Conscience
Whether pacifism is embraced legitimately as a personal calling or mistakenly as an ideology, the Church stipulates that those in authority should “make equitable provision for those who for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms,” adding that these conscientious objectors must “serve the human community in some other way” (CCC 2311).
This is similar to why the Church calls for religious freedom for other Christian and even non-Christian faiths. It is not an affirmation that their conscience is well formed on this topic or that these faiths are the fullness of God’s truth and revelation. Rather, it is a deep respect for the dignity of each person and the desire for all to choose the good in its fullness freely, from a converted heart, and without coercion.
Pacifism: Good and Bad
What is noble about the ideological pacifist is his respect for the beauty and value of each human life, even at the risk of his own.
Many priests and consecrated religious bear witness in a similar way. Like Our Lord in his passion, they give up their legitimate right to self-defense for the sake of heroic charity. They remind us that “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” and that force alone will never to save us. Only the grace and love and mercy of Jesus can bring any truly lasting peace.
What is not noble about pacifism as an ideology is that it takes a virtuous action and condemns it as evil. Protecting the innocent from an aggressor is a noble calling. It is unjust and categorically false to equate defense of one’s family or homeland with aggressive and unprovoked violence.
St. Teresa of Calcutta once remarked, “I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me.” This reminds us that “peace” is not just an absence of fighting, but rather a tranquility that comes from rightly ordered human relations.
A Catholic cannot be an ideological pacifist because, in this fallen world, we sometimes need to do battle to prevent an aggressor from trampling the helpless. What a Catholic can and must be is one who works for peace, even if he must take up the sword and shield, or man a tank or fighter jet, from time to time.