US, European bishops join in call for nuclear disarmament

July 06, 2017

Catholic bishops in the US and Europe have joined in a statement calling for the systematic elimination of nuclear weapons throughout the world.

The statement—entitled “Nuclear Disarmament: Seeking Human Security” and released on July 6—calls upon world leaders to devise a “credible, verifiable, and enforceable strategy” for global disarmament. The bishops urge European and American leaders especially to recognize the urgency of the cause—“an urgency intensified by the prospect of nuclear terrorism and proliferation.” They note the impatience of non-nuclear states with the lack of progress in efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weaponry.

“The indiscriminate and disproportionate nature of nuclear weapons, compel the world to move beyond nuclear deterrence,” the statement says.

The joint statement was released by the justice-and-peace commissions of the US and European bishops’ conferences. It was signed by Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico and Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, the heads of those two bodies.

 

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Further information:

• U.S. and European Catholic Bishops Call for Strategy to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons Globally