The ViQo Circle strongly condemns the unjust war of aggression against Iran and the assassination of His Eminence Imam Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, and calls upon those responsible to repent and make restitution for this injustice.

The Catholic Church has consistently taught that war can only be just if strict criteria, founded in natural law, are fulfilled. In particular, war must be waged for a just cause, declared by the proper legal authority, and can only be undertaken after the exhaustion of all other remedies and with a reasonable expectation of success without causing worse disorder.

The current war against Iran fails on all counts. First, there was no just cause. Iran did not attack the United States first, nor was there even an imminent threat of an attack. Second, proper legal authorization was not obtained, neither under U.S. law (the authorization of Congress was lacking) nor under international law (the authorization of the UN was also lacking). Third, other remedies had not been exhausted. Iran was in fact engaged in diplomatic negotiations with Western leaders about their differences. Finally, there is no reasonable expectation that the war will improve the situation without causing worse disorder. On the contrary, there is a very real risk of plunging the whole region into violent chaos that will cause untold suffering for millions of people.

These risks are considerably aggravated by the targeted killing of Imam Khamenei. The deliberate killing of a religious and political leader outside the context of a just and lawful war constitutes a grave moral disorder. Regardless of the ideological differences among the parties involved, the intentional taking of human life as a political tool cannot be reconciled with the natural law tradition upheld by the Church.

Political authority, even when exercised imperfectly, is understood to derive ultimately from God. The Church clearly distinguishes between legitimate resistance to tyranny and acts of murder motivated by ideology or geopolitical calculation. The violent removal of a head of state – especially one who holds both political and religious authority – significantly increases the risk of chaos within Iran and heightened conflict in the Middle East and beyond.

Western leaders should hesitate to assume that they have the moral high ground over leaders in other countries. The common opinion in other parts of the world that the West is suffering from an epidemic of moral decadence is only strengthened by the willingness of Western leaders to engage in hubristic wars of aggression. Under such circumstances, European countries should at least remain neutral in this conflict.

Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and all persons of good will are bound to uphold the sanctity of life and the primacy of moral law over political strategy. True peace and justice cannot be built upon unjust killing. We join all persons of good will in praying for peace.

Critics of religion often see it as an obstacle to political justice, as “opium for the people” that prevents them from rebelling against unjust exploitation, or as a system of oppression in itself. But great religious thinkers have seen religion as being at the heart of justice, including in the political realm. Imam Khomeini, writing to the leader of the Soviet Union asked rhetorically, “Is the religion that seeks the administration of justice in the world and man’s freedom from material and spiritual shackles, the opium of the people?” (In Catholic Social Teaching the link between religion (as the justice owed to God) and political justice (as what is owed to our fellow men) is well established. As Pope Leo XIII wrote “As soon as the State refuses to give to God what belongs to God, by a necessary consequence it refuses to give to citizens that to which, as men, they have a right.” The 2024 ViQo Circle Conference will illuminate the theme of justice from the perspective of Shi’a Islam and Catholic Christianity.