杏MAP导航

By Benedict Mayaki

Since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War and the subsequent cold war between the Eastern and Western political blocs, nuclear policies have been an important part of public life. These debates have marked the climate between the superpowers and other countries of the world and have been a source of concern for the Church.

In November 2019, 杏MAP导航 Francis, speaking in Nagasaki, Japan, demonstrated the Church鈥檚 support for disarmament treaties and noted that 鈥淧eace and international stability are incompatible if they are founded on the fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total elimination.鈥�

The 杏MAP导航鈥檚 outspokenness on the condemnation of the possession of nuclear weapons is a continuation of a trend of calls by the Church for rejection of the 鈥渇alse sense of security鈥� brought about by nuclear weapons.

A habit of speaking out

杏MAP导航 Francis鈥� 2015 encyclical, Laudato si鈥�(on care for our common home), reiterated the concerns of 杏MAP导航 John XXIII鈥檚 鈥淧acem in Terris鈥� in which he rejected war and offered proposals for peace. Laudato si鈥� provided pastoral, ecological and ethical foundations against nuclear proliferation and warfare, and challenged scientists and world leaders to adopt a greater sense of responsibility towards the earth.

In an address to the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See in January 2019, 杏MAP导航 Francis urged the ambassadors to embrace diplomatic means as we cannot fail to be 鈥済enuinely concerned by the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental effects of any employment of nuclear devices.鈥�

On the 53^rd World Day of Peace on 1 January 2020, 杏MAP导航 Francis reiterated his continuous calls for peace by referring to the testimony of the lives of the survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He said, 鈥渢heir testimony awakes and preserves the memory of the victims, so that the conscience of humanity may rise in the face of every desire for dominance and destruction.鈥�

In October 2019, during the 74^th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), Monsignor Bernadito Auza, the permanent observer of the Holy See to UN, reiterated the Holy See鈥檚 calls for peace without nuclear threats. He proposed an attitude of dialogue and trust and referred to peace treaties as 鈥渧ital elements鈥� for nuclear disarmament.

From nuclear non-proliferation to nuclear test ban

In 2014, during the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact on Nuclear Weapons on Vienna, 杏MAP导航 Francis referred to nuclear weapons as 鈥済lobal problem鈥� and called on the need for a global ethic if we are to 鈥渞educe the nuclear threat and work towards nuclear disarmament鈥� if we are to work for a more secure world.

鈥淚 am convinced that the desire for peace and fraternity planted deep in the human heart will bear fruit in concrete ways to ensure that nuclear weapons are banned once and for all, to the benefit of our common home. The security of our own future depends on guaranteeing the peaceful security of others, for if peace, security and stability are not established globally, they will not be enjoyed at all,鈥� he said.

The Nuclear Proliferation Treaty

On March 5, 1970, the Nuclear Proliferations Treaty (NPT) entered into effect after being opened for signatures in 1968. The goal of the NPT is to inhibit the spread of nuclear weapons and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The NPT, which has near-universal adherence, has 191 countries as signatories including the five nuclear-weapon states (the United States, Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom). However, four UN member states (India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan) are outside of the treaty.