Pope Francis: elimination of nuclear weapons is moral imperative
March 28, 2017
In a message to a United Nations conference on nuclear weapons, Pope Francis said that the “ultimate goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons” is “both a challenge and a moral and humanitarian imperative.”
“The common destiny of mankind demands the pragmatic strengthening of dialogue and the building and consolidating of mechanisms of trust and cooperation, capable of creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons,” the Pope said in his message, which was dated March 23 and released March 28. “Growing interdependence and globalization mean that any response to the threat of nuclear weapons should be collective and concerted, based on mutual trust.”
He continued:
This trust can be built only through dialogue that is truly directed to the common good and not to the protection of veiled or particular interests; such dialogue, as far as possible, should include all: nuclear states, countries which do not possess nuclear weapons, the military and private sectors, religious communities, civil societies, and international organizations. And in this endeavor we must avoid those forms of mutual recrimination and polarization which hinder dialogue rather than encourage it.
The UN conference, the Pope concluded, “is an exercise in hope and it is my wish that it may also constitute a decisive step along the road towards a world without nuclear weapons. Although this is a significantly complex and long-term goal, it is not beyond our reach.”
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Posted by: brenda22890 -
Mar. 29, 2017 5:27 AM ET USA
"They will cry peace, peace, but there is no peace." We, being Christian, must do everything we can to ensure that all peoples are recognized as children of God - - without imagining that we are capable of creating a utopia here on earth.
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Posted by: Bveritas2322 -
Mar. 29, 2017 12:26 AM ET USA
So is the elimination of the sin of pride among utopian popes a moral imperative.
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Posted by: Bveritas2322 -
Mar. 28, 2017 5:05 PM ET USA
The utopian has abandoned a Catholic understanding of original sin yet again. So what else is new?
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Mar. 28, 2017 12:55 PM ET USA
"The common destiny of mankind demands the pragmatic strengthening of dialogue and the building and consolidating of mechanisms of trust and cooperation, capable of creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons." I am not sure that I accept "the common destiny of mankind" because I believe: "How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life." On the other hand, if by "common destiny" he means the General Judgment, then I do accept it.
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Posted by: feedback -
Mar. 28, 2017 11:09 AM ET USA
It sounds very reasonable, but the main problem is: how to accomplish omni-lateral nuclear disarmament. For some countries getting rid of nuclear arms would mean losing the main, or only, leverage they have on the international scene. Those states would have to be bribed into cooperation.
