US bishops laud Senate passage of nuclear arms treaty

December 23, 2010

The US Senate has ratified the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was signed by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on April 8. The 71-26 margin was four more than the two-thirds margin the US Constitution requires for the ratification of treaties.

“I welcome today’s ratification of the New START Treaty by the Senate,” Bishop Howard Hubbard, chairman of the US bishops’ committee on international justice and peace, said on December 22. “It was important that senators joined across party lines to support this Treaty. The Holy See and our Bishops’ Conference have long supported efforts to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation based on the Church’s moral concern for indiscriminate and disproportionate weapons.”

 

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Further information:

• Bishop Hubbard Commends Senate Ratification of New Start Treaty (USCCB)
• Senate approves nuclear arms treaty with Russia (Reuters)
• US bishops again urge: Ratify nuclear weapons treaty (CWN, 12/1)
• Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church on nuclear weapons (nos. 508-509)
• Blessed John XXIII: Encyclical on Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity, and Liberty (Pacem in Terris, 1963)