Catholicism Realism and the Abolition of War is about how Catholicism's view on war has changed from the past to the present, and that means an abolition of war. War predates Christianity, so Christians have always had to deal with war. For the most part Christians have taken part in war and its traditions. Christians believed in a "Just War.  That is when they know war is terrible, but necessary to defend a peaceful way of life, and keep order. "Just Wars  have been central in Catholic teachings about war and peace. However the Second Vatican Council was more critical on war, emphasized non-violence and called for the world to prevent wars underlying causes. Conservatives have resisted this belief and still hold on to the idea of a "Just War . They still stand by its use for protecting order. According to the Catholic Church, there is still a small space for war and some want it expanded to return to the old position but others want it closed altogether. However others believe that war by its nature is immoral, so there is never such a thing as a "Just War . Catholic ethics teaches that the worst thing is to kill the innocent. And war kills two kinds of innocent, combatants and noncombatants. Each makes up about half of the deaths in a war. Not so long ago in WWII and Vietnam we used terror bombing in the hope to breaking the will of our enemy's by inflicting as many casualties as possible. Modern militaries now try and do the opposite to reduce as many of the casualties as possible. Now there is emphasis on noncombatant immunity, but inevitably civilians will be killed. The killing of the noncombatants still is morally unacceptable, it violates moral limits on lethal force in policing and defense. Killing soldiers is also killing the innocent. War sanctions the killing of soldiers, which is what war is, but it is wrong in the first place. We recognize that it is wrong to kill wounded or surrendering soldiers, and ban unjust punishment to them afterward just for being on the wrong side i