Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative politician and once Leader of the House of Commons, who is also a vocal Catholic with traditionalist leanings, was recently interviewed by the American political commentator Tucker Carlson. The conversation made for interesting watching. Genuinely alarming, though, was the exchange that took place therein over the topic of nuclear weapons and Catholic just war doctrine.
I spent a number of years teaching a module on just war doctrine at an institute of higher education in London, and I’m therefore familiar with the topic, its origins, its development in the medieval period and expansion by thinkers all the way to our own times, as well as its current status in the Church.
