Vatican Would Accept a U.S. Resort to Force

The Vatican, citing the principle of self-defense to save lives, said it would understand if the United States had to resort to force to protect its citizens from future threats.

But it prefers a nonviolent solution to the crisis spawned by the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and wants any action to be a response to terrorism and not aimed against Islam.

The Vatican’s position on the international crisis and the moral legitimacy of an eventual U.S. response was outlined by Pope John Paul II’s chief spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, speaking in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, during the pontiff’s visit.