Ravenna Festival
Via Sancti Romualdi
Incontro con ALBERTO MELLONI
The Church’s attitude towards war is a subject of interest for a number of reasons, ranging from international relations to individual conscience. The notion of “rightful war” is a debated issue, characterized by the tension between the evangelical appeal for the rejection of violence and the need to govern a society in which order can be imposed by force of arms. Alberto Melloni, a famed Church historian, will retrace the troubled development of Roman Catholic views of war over the xx century, from Benedict XV’s denunciation of the Great War as a “useless slaughter” to John Paul II, who condemned the justification of all armed violence in the name of God, and to Francis, who called for “unconditional peace” in Syria.
