Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2020-2021
Pope Calls Nuclear Deterrence ‘Immoral’
The Church of England’s top leaders have called on the British government to join 50 other nations in ratifying the new international treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
The archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, along with 29 Anglican bishops, have signed a letter published by The Observer, saying that the UK’s support for the treaty would give hope for a peaceful future.
Art Laffin of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, DC, reports in the National Catholic Reporter that the Roman Catholic Church’s Pope Francis is the first Pope to condemn the mere possession of nuclear weapons. In a Nov. 10, 2017 address, he said in part, “If we also take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned.” Two years later, during a visit to Nagasaki, Japan Nov. 24, 2019, he said, “We must never grow weary of working to support the … Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” Visiting Hiroshima that day he said, “The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral.”
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