The Catholic Church should renounce its “just war” doctrine and Pope Francis should write an encyclical on non-violence and “just peace” instead, participants at a Vatican conference have said. Delegates at the conference, sponsored by the Vatican’s justice and peace office and Pax Christi International, the Catholic peace movement, said in a closing statement that just war theory had been frequently used to justify and endorse military action rather than prevent it. Church teaching has long permitted the use of force in some cases, as long as certain conditions are met. These include that other peaceful means have been exhausted, that the force is appropriate and will not produce worse effects, and that there is a reasonable chance for its success. The statement said: “The time has come for our Church to be a living witness and to invest far greater human and financial resources in promoting a spirituality and practice of active non-violence, and in forming and training our Catholic communities in effective non-violent practices.” Pope Francis has echoed his predecessors in condemning wars and promoting peace. He hosted a marathon prayer vigil to stave off threatened military action in Syria, has brought the Israeli and Palestinian presidents together for a peace summit, and issues near-weekly appeals for peaceful ends to conflicts. But he has also endorsed military action to halt the ISIS advance in Iraq and Syria. The Pope told reporters in 2014 that it was “licit to stop the unjust aggressor”, but said such military action must be endorsed by the international community and that the type of force must be evaluated.