The Red Pope has spoken on Self-Defense.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio A.K.A Pope Francis was born in Argentina in 1936, that means he lived through Peron and all the Argentinian dictatorships plus was witness to the mass immigration of Europeans (German, Italians and Spaniards) getting out of a post-war Europe. The abuses suffered by regular citizens by the hands of the secret police are well known to any Argentinian of his time, even during periods of “elected” government.
I have covered this before (damn, 10 years ago) but it bears repeating. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. “The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the other is not.”
Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow…
Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm.
This is pretty clear: The Catholic Church allows for self-defense, period. Nowhere in the Catholic Church doctrine specifies that can only be done with certain objects because it was never about the objects but the individual’s hear and soul.
How are we supposed to defend ourselves? Say couple of Hail Marys with a mouthful of garlic while presenting a cross and a spray bottle full of Holy Water? Only if the bad guys are vampires and only in the movies.
Shut up Old Man. You are the most embarrassing pope in a couple of centuries, probably three or four.