Discurso Contemporâneo sobre a Paz e a Guerra à Luz da Teoria da Guerra Justa: uma Leitura dos Desenvolvimentos do Magistério Católico

The present article analyses the contemporary discourse on war and peace in light of traditional just war theory and in the context of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The first sections present and discuss the most relevant recent developments of the Magisterium on these themes. After that, the article presents a comparison of contemporary discourse with just war theory as it was outlined in the Salamanca School in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The main conclusions point towards an ongoing tension between a general and resolute condemnation of war and the recognition of the legitimacy of armed conflict in certain exceptional circumstances. The admission of these exceptions does not jeopardize the underlying general principles - it concentrates the ethical condemnation on the political actors responsible for generating the terrible circumstances in which war is to be considered legitimate, but nevertheless regrettable and always constituting a failure of humanity.