The familiar claim that war solves nothing must be balanced off with the acknowledged wisdom that peace is not the mere absence of war.

It’s wisdom particularly applicable at the start of 2026 when the prospect of war breaking out somewhere in the world is a far greater, more realistic threat than the achievement of everlasting peace for everyone on earth.

The U.S. military strike against Venezuela on Jan. 2, while absent an actual declaration of war, showed in the very way it caught global leaders off guard how quickly quasi-peace can flare into unnerving, to say the least, bombing of civilian population centres. At the same time, the precision of the assault debunks the nostrum that violence never achieves anything. (So does one of the avowed intentions of returning democracy to Venezuelans.)

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Violence, limited and in the hands of an elite military unit, achieved the goal of bringing a handcuffed tyrant before an American court to face the proverbial arms-length list of charges ranging from drug smuggling to narco-terrorism. It’s a better end by far for strongman Nicolás Maduro than the end hundreds of thousands of his subjects suffered under his oligarchic rule. 

 Our colleagues at OSV News underscored the point with a story quoting Astrid Liden, a Venezuelan-American communications officer for the Hope Border Institute, which works to apply Catholic social teaching to the U.S.-Mexico border region.

"In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have sought protection in the United States, many passing through the U.S.-Mexico border,” Liden told the news service. “Millions of Venezuelans live abroad due to the situation in Venezuela, and we share their hope in the end of the reign of Maduro, whose rule led to the displacement of so many."

But Liden also stressed the sobering other side of the “successful” raid on Nicolás Maduro’s presidential palace: hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who remained behind in their country of birth are now at risk from the political, economic, and social upheaval that has a high probability of following the U.S. strike. 

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Civil war, of whatever scope and duration, is not out of the question. Even if it is averted, and we should all pray it will be, the people of Venezuela will be reminded for weeks, months, perhaps years that peace is not the mere absence of war.

It is not, of course, either the place or the competence of a Canadian Catholic newspaper to declaim on the rights and wrongs of the American action under international law or the geopolitical complexities that might ensue. This is not Gaza where the unspeakable evil of Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 deserved unreserved moral condemnation and clearly justified the Israeli response in kind, if not degree. The two years of suffering inflicted on Jews and the Palestinian people alike merited no less.

But the Jan. 2 American action does give pause for Catholics to consider within the full context of our faith when, where, why and, above all, how we should insist on achievement of peace that is more than a mere absence of war. One of the great comforts of Holy Mother Church, after all, is the breadth of her catholicity (small c) in responding to such questions.

Pacifist groups such as Pax Christi, legitimately if not always entirely correctly according to our lights, argue consistently and cogently for beating swords into ploughshares, that is demilitarizing economies globally to advance the preferential option for the poor. Groups such as Development and Peace-Caritas and CNEWA press for concord while being prepared to pick up the jagged pieces of societies and individual lives shattered by war.

Yet the Church equally has a long tradition of just war theory and, as a practical matter, provides robust chaplaincy to serve military forces in over 60 countries on virtually every continent through ordinariates or vicariates.

Pope Francis was vehement during his pontificate in preaching peace but also condemning what he considered the futility of war and all violence. Pope Leo XIV has largely continued that message, although it’s noteworthy that he has expressed “deep concern” but not outright condemnation of his native land’s attack on Venezuela. 

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Citing Pope Leo, Astrid Liden put it well: “We must see Venezuelans, including the leaders elected in 2024, involved in a process of democratic transition for there to be a country where Venezuelans can one day return to."

A country, in other words, where genuine peace means more than just a cessation of violence up to and including outright war.