As evident from previous posts on bLOGOS, Pope Benedict XVI's reflections and remarks on war and peace are especially of interest to me. I occasionally bring them to the attention of my fellow EPers because, while the Roman Catholic Church has for a long time been associated primarily with the just war tradition, there appear to be continuing indications of a move towards a more critical stance against war. In his most recent address, which was delivered on July 22, 2007, before reciting the midday Angelus in the Piazza Calvi of Lorenzago di Cadore, the pope expresses "how unacceptable the 'useless bloodbaths' are," and he renews "the call to follow with tenacity the way of law, to firmly renounce the arms race, to reject in general the temptation to face new situations with old systems."

It is often said by Americans that 9/11 "changed everything." Curiously, it did not change how the U.S. deals with the supposedly "new situation" of terrorism. That is, the U.S. responded as it tended to do so in the past to international conflicts, namely, through the "old system" of military might, by undertaking a "war" on terror.