Pope Francis on Monday said efforts to stop Islamic militants from attacking religious minorities in Iraq are legitimate but said the international community — and not just one country — should decide how to intervene.

Francis was asked if he approved of the unilateral U.S. airstrikes on militants of the Islamic State group, who have captured swaths of northern and western Iraq and northeastern Syria and have forced minority Christians and others to either convert to Islam or flee their homes.

"In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor," Francis said. "I underscore the verb 'stop.' I'm not saying 'bomb' or 'make war,' just 'stop.' And the means that can be used to stop them must be evaluated."

Francis also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with persecuted Christians. But he said he was holding off for now on a decision.

The pope's comments were significant because the Vatican has vehemently opposed any military intervention in recent years. Pope Paul VI famously uttered the words "War never again, never again war" at the United Nations in 1965 as the Vietnam War raged, a refrain that has been repeated by every pope since. St. John Paul II actively tried to head off the Iraq war on the grounds that a "preventive" war couldn't be justified. He repeatedly called for negotiations to resolve the crisis over Iraq's invasion of Kuwait a decade prior.

Francis himself staged a global prayer and fast for peace when the U.S. was threatening airstrikes on Syria last year.

But in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks — in the Vatican's mind an "unjust aggression" — John Paul defended the "legitimate fight against terrorism," and the right of nations to defend themselves against terrorist attacks. He did though call for restraint and the Vatican subsequently focused its position on emphasizing the need to eradicate the root causes of terrorism: poverty and oppression.

Recently, the Vatican has been increasingly showing support for military intervention in Iraq, given that Christians are being directly targeted because of their faith and that Christian communities, which have existed for 2,000 years, have been emptied as a result of the extremists' onslaught.

The U.S. began launching airstrikes against IS fighters on Aug. 8, allowing Kurdish forces to fend off an advance on their regional capital of Irbil and to help tens of thousands of religious minorities escape.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pope-oks-protecting-iraq-minorities-wants-un-ok

This a first for the Vicar of the Son of God calling for armed intervention in modern history.

Emeca:

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pope-oks-protecting-iraq-minorities-wants-un-ok

This a first for the Vicar of the Son of God calling for armed intervention in modern history.

lie lie story from the mouth of the grandson of lie lie mohamed.

2cato: lie lie story from the mouth of the grandson of lie lie mohamed.

check out d link urself. This is from Associated Press.