Steven Waldman asks his earlier question in a different way; this time focusing on the “moral” question of whether I, and others who supported the war, ignored the pope on this issue.
Did I find John Paul II persuasive in the run-up to the invasion? Yes, in the sense that I checked and re-checked my reasoning for thinking it a “just war.” But, I did not come to the same conclusion.
A prudential judgment can be right or wrong, but cannot contradict an essence. To contradict an essence, the Church’s teaching on war would have to be equivalent to its teaching on abortion or euthanasia, which it is not. Abortion is never right, war can be.