Faithful Citizenship in Pa's 1st Congressional District and the Central Garden State

In addition to its "staggering loss of military lives," "8.9 million civilian casualties," and "50 million fatalities resulting from the influenza pandemic largely unleashed by the war,"  Jonah Goldberg recently maintained that World War I also led to

the Bolsheviks coming to power,
World War II,
mass murder by the Soviet Union,
the long enslavement of Eastern Europe,
the Cold War,
the career of Vladimir Putin,
problems in the Middle East from the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and
"domestic spying, censorship, violent political intimidation of opponents and economic statism" in our own country.

Whatever the merits and deficits of Goldberg's perspective, we certainly live in a volatile world that seems to place increasingly little value on human life.  How do we bring the light of Christ to this troubled world?  "The persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State has pushed Vatican diplomacy to add strong calls for international humanitarian intervention to its prayers for the situation.  The past week has seen the appointment of a papal enjoy to Iraq, a strongly worded open letter from the Vatican's dicastery for interrreligious dialogue, and an urgent appeal from Pope Francis himself to the head of the United Nations.  The Pope's decision to send an envoy to Iraq, in addition to its nuncio, shows the Holy See's desire to play a key diplomatic role in the region” (Vatican diplomacy focuses on humanitarian intervention in Iraq, CNA/EWTN News, 8/13/14)

[In response to whether he approved American bombing in Iraq, "to prevent a genocide, to protect minorities, including Catholics":] "In these cases where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say this: it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor. I underline the verb: stop. I do not say bomb, make war, I say stop by some means. With what means can they be stopped? These have to be evaluated. To stop the unjust aggressor is licit.  But we must also have memory. How many times under this excuse of stopping an unjust aggressor the powers [that intervened] have taken control of peoples, and have made a true war of conquest.  One nation alone cannot judge how to stop an unjust aggressor. After the Second World War there was the idea of the United Nations. It is there that this should be discussed. Is there an unjust aggressor? It would seem there is. How do we stop him? Only that, nothing more.  Secondly, you mentioned the minorities. Thanks for that word because they talk to me about the Christians, the poor Christians. It’s true, they suffer. The martyrs, there are many martyrs. But here there are men and women, religious minorities, not all of them Christian, and they are all equal before God.  To stop the unjust aggressor is a right that humanity has, but it is also a right that the aggressor has to be stopped so that he does not do evil" (Pope Francis, 8/18/14).

[In response to whether he was "ready to support a military intervention in Iraq to stop the Jihadists" and whether he would go to Iraq:] "I have responded to the first question. I am only in the agreement in the fact that when there is an unjust aggressor he is to be stopped....I am willing [to go there]. At the moment it is not the best thing to do, but I am ready for this" (Pope Francis, 8/18/14).