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VATICAN CITY - A Vatican handbook released Monday laid out Roman Church teaching questioning preventive war and denouncing the "horrendous crime" of abortion. But Vatican officials sidestepped questions on whether the war in Iraq was illegal or if Catholics can vote for candidates who back laws permitting abortion.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls quickly intervened at a news conference when a top Vatican cardinal was asked if the faithful can cast ballots for a candidate who supports legalized abortion. "The Holy See never gets involved in electoral or political questions directly," he said.
Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, is a Catholic who has said that while personally opposed to abortion, he upholds the right of women to have one.
Pope John Paul II has vigorously championed the Vatican's long-standing opposition to abortion, which was denounced as a "horrendous crime" in the Vatican document released Monday.
Some U.S. churchmen, such as St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, have said Kerry should be denied Communion.
Navarro-Valls said bishops could, if they desired, weigh in on campaign issues to "illuminate the consciences of the faithful with ethical elements so they can make a judgment" in elections.
Officials at the news conference described the 524-page compilation of doctrine as a kind of handbook which could help business, political and cultural leaders.
Appearing to break no new ground, the volume quoted extensively from, and offered reflections on, writings and speeches by Pope John Paul II and previous pontiffs on matters including preventive war, terrorism, the death penalty, immigration, workers' rights, poverty, globalization, free markets and human rights.
Under the heading "legitimate defense," the compendium states, "Engaging in a preventive war without clear proof that an attack is imminent cannot fail to raise serious moral and juridical questions."
In apparent reference to the United Nations, the document states, "International legitimacy for the use of armed forces, on the basis of rigorous assessment and with well-founded motivations, can only be given by the decision of a competent body that identifies specific situations as threats to peace and authorizes an intrusion into the sphere of autonomy usually reserved for a state."
The former Vatican envoy to the United Nations, Cardinal Renato Martino, was asked if "in hindsight," the U.S.-led war against Iraq would be "illegal" in the eyes of the church.
The cardinal replied: "Did you read the address of the pope to President Bush? Read it again."
Martino was referring to the pontiff's words to Bush when the American leader paid a call at the Vatican last June. In that address, John Paul expressed "grave concern" about events in Iraq and his desire for achievement of "normalization as quickly as possible."
The compendium also reiterated church teaching that there is virtually no justification for the death penalty and hailed as a "sign of hope" growing public opposition to capital punishment.