Bringing you the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's magisterium
Home About
AskACatholic.com
What's New? Resources The Church Family Life Mass and
Adoration
Ask A Catholic
Knowledge base
AskACatholic Disclaimer
Search the
AskACatholic Database
Donate and
Support our work
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New Questions
Cool Catholic Videos
About Saints
Disciplines and Practices for distinct Church seasons
Purgatory and Indulgences
About the Holy Mass
About Mary
Searching and Confused
Contemplating becoming a Catholic or Coming home
Homosexual and Gender Issues
Life, Dating, and Family
No Salvation Outside the Church
Sacred Scripture
non-Catholic Cults
Justification and Salvation
The Pope and Papacy
The Sacraments
Relationships and Marriage situations
Specific people, organizations and events
back
Doctrine and Teachings
Specific Practices
Church Internals
Church History

Basel Chaudry wrote:

Hi, guys —

  • What is the current attitude to the Crusades?
  • Why would a Catholic justify the Crusades as holy wars, and
  • What are the conditions for a holy war to occur?

Basel

  { What is your attitude on the Crusades; why would a Catholic justify it, and what is a holy war? }

Bob replied:

Dear Basel,

The history of the Crusades is rather long and complex, but essentially it was a response to Islamic aggression and therefore was a defensive action, compatible with just war theory.

See what the Catechism and St. Thomas Aquinas say on this.

There are many books to consider, but one I am reading now, and very worth the read, is God's Battalions, by Rodney Stark (The Case for the Crusades). I think you could find the answers you are looking for there; find it on Amazon.

Peace,

Bob Kirby

Mike replied:

Basel,

The issue of the Crusades comes up on a semi-frequent basis and how the Church addresses this can be found in our searchable knowledge base:

There are a lot of quick answers there, so give it a try.

I searched the knowledge base for you and found these previous AskACatholic web postings that may help, in addition to some web pages from Catholic Answers at the end.

I hope this helps,

Mike

Similar issues . . .

[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]
[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]|[Related posting]

Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
© 2012 Panoramic Sites
The Early Church Fathers Church Fathers on the Primacy of Peter. The Early Church Fathers on the Catholic Church and the term Catholic. The Early Church Fathers on the importance of the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome.