Catholic Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and spiritual leader of four million English Catholics, has recommended that any military reaction to Islamic terrorism should represent a last resort, to which recourse should be had only after all the other options – political, legal and diplomatic – have been exhausted. The military action in Afghanistan is in fact likely to involve thousands of British troops who, together with their American counterparts, will form the bulk of the Western contingent. In a message, signed also by the Archbishop of Liverpool Patrick Kelly, Vice President of the Bishops’ Conference, the leaders of English and Welsh Catholics urge the politicians to avoid a spiral of violence that may transform the terrorist attacks in the USA into an even greater tragedy. Three principles are suggested by the Church for an action that may produce justice without degenerating into vendetta. First, “the military action must be proportionate, if it is to succeed in containing the evil without generating an even greater evil”, write the bishops. Second, “we need to discriminate between the guilty and the innocent to avoid whole populations being punished for the actions of small and insignificant groups. And third, there must be a real possibility of success to prevent conflicts from being pointlessly aggravated”. The English bishops also criticize the term “war against terrorism”, because it involves the risk of a degeneration of violence, and at the same time express compassion for the poor who live in the countries about to be attacked. The Catholic Church in England also expresses its concern for the immigrants who come from the regions to be attacked by the Allies and who now live in Great Britain together with British citizens. “We encourage the inhabitants of our countries to grow in respect and solidarity together with this vulnerable group”, write the bishops”.
