In this Pastoral Letter, Bishop Botean declares to those who are actively one with him by Baptism and by faith in Christ and His Church that this war is intrinsically evil and therefore morally impermissible for them. It is the equivalent of a Church being informed by its highest spiritual authority that it is under a Divine mandate to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience, if legally required to participate in this war.

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Bishop Botean states that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin. Beyond a reasonable doubt this war is morally incompatible with the Person and Way of Jesus Christ. With moral certainty I say to you it does not meet even the minimal standards of the Catholic just war theory.

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Do you refuse on the basis of conscience to volunteer for the military? If you would like to proclaim your refusal publicly, we invite you to use our website. You may send us a letter expressing your conscientious objection, and we will periodically post or otherwise publicize itto bear witness to your conscientious refusal, to encourage others to consider what conscience demands of them today and to promote awareness among other conscientious objectors that they are not alone.

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