Tibbets’ ‘Distinguished Service’ in Death
Eighty year ago, Paul Tibbets flew his B-52 bomber, the ‘Enola Gay’ – named after his own mother – and dropped the nuclear bomb over Hiroshima. Under his guidance, the ‘superfortress’ took off in the middle of the night from the American air force base in Tinian, taking six hours to reach Japan. At 8:15 in the morning, the bomb, named ‘Little Boy’, was let go, and detonated just above the city, unleashing a nuclear inferno that killed 70,000 people, and condemned many more to a lingering painful death from radiation and other injuries.
Upon his return to base, he was immediately awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and became a national celebrity. Tibbets defended his decision to his dying breath, at times, it seems, protesting too much, as though to salve a seared conscience. After all, how do you live with yourself in peace after killing tens of thousands of innocent people, whose ‘crime’ was simply being Japanese, with the misfortune of being in Hiroshima on that fateful morning?
More to the point, how was he going to face the victims upon his own judgement? (Tibbets died – ironically perhaps – on the Solemnity of All Saints, in 1972). The same may be said of those who support Truman’s decision, and Tibbets’ action, such as George Weigel, James Toner (a deacon, and former army officer) and Jim Russell, to name but a few. It is disconcerting that he and any number of other Catholic commentators can be so blind on this point. Do they not realize that the same reasons they put forward justifying Hiroshima and Nagasaki would also, by a logic that is inexorable, justify abortion, euthanasia and a host of other evils?
Readers should peruse the clear and irrefutable reply of the then-young Oxford philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, in her protest to the awarding of an honorary degree upon Mr. Truman. She’s in good company, for the Jesuit Father John Ford also condemned Truman’s choice, and he was one of the few on Pope John XXIII’s ‘birth control commission’ also to see the evils of contraception
Whether or not the ‘line was crossed’ in targeting civilians before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, evil’s still evil, and the Church’s Magisterium cut to the chase stated this quite forcefully in 1965, twenty years after the bombings, towards the close of the Second Vatican Council, in the Constitution Gaudium et Spes:
Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation (par. 80.3; cf., CCC, #2314).
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→