Bloodshed Without Redemption: The Futility of Secular Retaliation in Syria
The VaticanNews portal (December 20, 2025) reports U.S. and Jordanian airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, framed as retaliation for the December 13 ambush near Palmyra that killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter. Over 70 sites were struck using “more than 100 precision munitions,” with Jordan’s air force participating to “prevent extremist groups from threatening regional security.” Syria’s cooperation with the U.S.-led coalition is highlighted, alongside its pledge to combat ISIS. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the operation “a declaration of vengeance,” not war. The article omits any moral or theological reflection, reducing the conflict to geopolitical maneuvering. **This report exemplifies the bankruptcy of modernist naturalism, divorcing human action from divine law.**
Naturalism as the Foundation of Modern Conflict Resolution
The article’s language reduces warfare to a cycle of violence devoid of supernatural purpose. Phrases like “declaration of vengeance” and “precision munitions” glorify human efficacy while ignoring the lex aeterna (eternal law) governing all temporal affairs. The U.S. and Jordanian actions are justified solely through the lens of national security, a concept Pius XI condemned as idolatrous when detached from Christ’s reign: “Nations will be happy and peaceful only when they accept the divine dogma of the dominion of Christ” (Quas Primas, §18). By omitting the necessity of justice rooted in God’s law, the report implicitly endorses the heresy that states may act autonomously from divine authority—a error anathematized in the Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 39).
The Abdication of the Church’s Prophetic Voice
Nowhere does the article invoke the Church’s teaching on bellum iustum (just war), which requires legitimate authority, just cause, and right intention (Augustine, City of God XIX.7). Instead, the VaticanNews portal parrots secular narratives, reducing the Syrian conflict to a technical problem of “extremist threats.” This silence echoes the conciliar sect’s betrayal of its duty to proclaim Pax Christi in Regno Christi (the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ). True peace, as Pius XI taught, flows not from missiles but from societies conformed to Christ’s sovereignty: “When men recognize Christ’s royal dignity, domestic peace flourishes” (Quas Primas, §19). The absence of this truth in the report reveals the conciliar sect’s complicity in the global apostasy.
Syria’s False “Cooperation”: A Masonic Subterfuge
The article uncritically praises Syria’s collaboration with the U.S., ignoring Damascus’s history of persecuting Christians and promoting Islamist agendas. This aligns with the Masonic strategy of using false ecumenism to undermine Catholic witness, as warned in the Syllabus (Proposition 77-79). The claim that Syria seeks to “prevent ISIS safe havens” is belied by its decades-long repression of Christian communities—a reality suppressed to advance the relativistic lie that “all religions equally deserve protection.”
The Cult of Human Power Over Divine Justice
Defense Secretary Hegseth’s boast—”not the beginning of a war, but a declaration of vengeance”—epitomizes the pagan ethos of modern states. Contrast this with St. Paul’s injunction: “Non vosmetipsos defendentes (Do not defend yourselves), but leave room for God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19). The U.S. strikes, divorced from any intention to restore Christ’s order, amount to collective punishment condemned by Leo XIII: “States may never act contrary to Christian charity, even in war” (Libertas Praestantissimum, §33).
Conclusion: The Abyss of Godless Politics
The VaticanNews report, like the conciliar sect itself, reduces human suffering to a political equation solvable through technology and alliances. It ignores the warning of Pius IX: “Without Christ, societies descend into mutual hatred” (Syllabus, Introduction). Until nations acknowledge the Kingship of Christ—the sole source of justice—their wars will perpetuate endless cycles of bloodshed. As the true Church teaches: “Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilant qui custodiunt eam (Unless the Lord guards the city, those who watch it labor in vain)” (Psalm 127:1).
Source:
U.S. strikes more than 70 Islamic State targets in Syria (vaticannews.va)
Date: 20.12.2025