Top Vatican diplomat at UN renews call for ban on nuclear weapons

May 14, 2014

Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the Holy See’s apostolic nuncio at the United Nations, has called for an international ban on nuclear weapons.

The prelate made his remarks during a meeting of the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. The remarks, delivered on April 30, were published in the May 14 edition of L’Osservatore Romano.

Speaking of the risk of “a cataclysmic tragedy,” Archbishop Chullikatt lamented “the continued existence of some 17,000 nuclear weapons.”

“The logical course of action is clear: urgent and expedited progress leading to a global legal ban on nuclear weapons to accompany the current global bans on other weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical and biological weapons,” he said. “For many years, the Holy See has called for the abolition of nuclear weapons in order that the world may be freed from the potential specter of mass destruction.”

“Today, we renew that moral call to inspire and animate constructive work to preserve our planet and all of humanity, he continued. “It should not be the case that the nuclear-weapons states continue to spend more than $100 billion per year to maintain their nuclear weapons, while this precious financial resource is so desperately needed for economic and social development, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.”

 

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Further information:

• Per un mondo liberoda armi nuclear (L’Osservatore Romano)
• Intervention of H.E. Archbishop Francis Chullikatt (Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations)
• Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (United Nations)