The relationship between warfare and pacifism has been among the most controversial debates in the course of Christian ethics. In recent decades the dire concerns of the natural environment have begun to assume central importance in magisterial Roman Catholic social teaching. This dissertation explores the intimate relationship between war and the environment and the ramifications this relationship may have for the fundamental tenets of Catholic social thought, such as human dignity and the centrality of human life. I argue that these tenets, while crucial, are inadequate by themselves in fully addressing the destructiveness of warfare. A greater respect for the global common good is essential in order to present a holistic ethical argument. At present, there exists precious little scholarship on the many ways in which war harms non-human creation; it is my belief that this is an essential topic for Christian ethics to address.

In order to advance this argument, I will rely primarily on the existing corpus of Catholic social teaching, especially papal encyclicals, and episcopal pastoral letters, as well as scholarly commentaries and evaluations of this tradition; Thomistic virtue ethics; and the writings of various secular thinkers particularly on the issue of environmental ethics. Specifically, this dissertation views the environmental degradation inflicted by modern warfare as the type of “problem of special urgency” of which the Fathers of Vatican Council II urged the church to be aware. The primary goal of the project is to address some of the basic causes of this “problem of special urgency,” as well as survey how the two topics – environmental degradation and modern warfare, heretofore viewed primarily as independent of one another – are part of a larger issue. In advancing a variety of concrete ethical responses to this problem, I will introduce a new type of contingent pacifism: environmental pacifism.