In his column, Sandro Magister summarizes statements and actions from the Vatican re/the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Magister offers several different views of the situation from various experts, puts the Pope’s statements in context, and ends with an essay by Pietro de Marco – a professor at the University of Florence and at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy, as well as an editorialist for Avvenire, a Catholic daily.

At first it was not known – or perhaps this lack of understanding was feigned – that Hezbollah had established a strong logistical and offensive position along the border, and it was not foreseen that, in consequence, Israel’s response to Hezbollah would, in the course of the battle, turn into a response to an armed aggressor nation on its border. The Holy See did not know this. But when the evidence and information clarified the terms of the conflict, one would have expected the Church of Rome to recognize the “proportionality” of Israel’s response, although this would not have meant ending its reminders of the suffering of the people involved and the urgency of peace.

It can no longer escape anyone, even a primarily spiritual authority like the Church of Rome, that what exploded in the hands of the Hezbollah fighters suddenly made visible – in organization, weaponry, and fortifications – a crucial piece in Tehran’s bid for hegemony. This is why, following the limited understanding available at first, the diagnosis of “disproportion” almost completely disappeared from the statements and comments of the Vatican authorities.

We are thus required to reason according to the precepts of the human intellect, instead of expressing nothing more than assessments in accordance with values. Judging according to values is certainly necessary, but under conditions. Hasn’t the process of verifying and clarifying the facts been demonstrated as no less necessary? The assessment of “proportionality” brings with it the implicit recognition of Muslim organizations and nations as enemies, today, of Israel and the West. This does not imply the assertion – one that is feared rather than desired, and not only by the Holy See – that Islam is in itself an enemy.