This week in Rome, military ordinaries have gathered this week for a conference.

Archbishop O’Brien, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services spoke:

While a Catholic military chaplain’s ministry always will center on celebrating the sacraments — in a base chapel or a field tent — he also is called to be "an ethicist, helping form and guide" the approach of his unit and the concrete behavior of individuals, Archbishop O’Brien said.

Like other speakers at the Vatican conference, Archbishop O’Brien said modern shifts in when a nation feels called to deploy troops raise new ethical questions.

Ethical guidelines for a "just war" — including the principles that actions are proportionate and civilians are not targeted — were developed in the light of conventional wars between two countries or clearly identified groups.

Now, he said, ethicists are scrambling to deal with "asymmetrical war," a conflict such as terrorism where the two sides are not clearly identified, similar entities and where the battlefield can be anywhere.

Archbishop O’Brien said, "The Holy See is not happy with ‘preventative war,’" the term the United States and its allies have used to describe their invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to prevent what was seen as a growing threat, but the chaplains believe there still must be a discussion about ethical military action in such situations.

The challenge faced by chaplains trying to instill high ethical standards in their units is complicated by the modern cultural crisis of values, he said.

"If there is no absolute right and wrong, what do you do in war?" he said.

This was very interesting as well:

Archbishop O’Brien told Catholic News Service he also encouraged the military ordinaries and the Vatican to support a philosophical and ethical discussion about women in the military.

"We have lost 65 women in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said, even though U.S. law says that military women are not to be assigned combat roles.

While admitting the topic could set off a controversy and charges of chauvinism, Archbishop O’Brien said women in the U.S. military have proven their leadership skills and their ability to handle themselves and their weapons in tense situations. The questions, he said, are whether there are solid philosophical and theological reasons to bar women from direct combat and why do so many men in mixed units feel a special need to protect their female comrades.

The Pope spoke to the group today:

Going on to refer to the "value of peace," the Pope said: "If Vatican Council II calls the military ministers of peace, how much more so are the pastors to whom they are entrusted!  I therefore encourage you all to ensure that military chaplains be true experts and masters of what the Church teaches and practices in terms of building peace in the world."

"The Church is called to be ‘salt,’ ‘light’ and leavening,’ even in the world of the military… so that mentalities and structures become ever more oriented towards building peace" said Pope Benedict. "The Church’s Magisterium on the question of peace represents an essential aspect of her social doctrine," he added.

The Church’s "insistent calls for peace have influenced Western culture, promoting the idea that the armed forces are ‘at the exclusive service of the defense, security and freedom of peoples.’ Sometimes, unfortunately, other interests, economic and political interests fomented by international tensions, put obstacles and setbacks in the way of this constructive tendency, as is evident in the difficulty of disarmament processes."