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The Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas Born in Italy, Thomas Aquinas was one of the most educated men of his time. Aquinas, whose family were noble, was educated as a monk and later continued his education at the University of Naples followed by the University ....

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.... The second question is: Whether it is always sinful to wage war? In this question Aquinas states in his objection (1), “It would seem that it is always sinful to wage war because punishment is not inflicted except for sin. Now those who wage war are threatened by our Lord with punishment; therefore, all wars are unlawful.” (172) However, he justifies the act of war by giving three necessities. The first he mentions is only an authority of the sovereign can order a war to be waged. This reply in itself is a contradiction to the quotation above in the way that he states that wars are justified if you have power and ....