Prelates call for strategy to eliminate nuclear weapons
July 10, 2017
Speaking on behalf of the US and European bishops, two prelates have issued “Nuclear Disarmament: Seeking Human Security,” a statement that calls upon the international community to “map out a credible, verifiable and enforceable strategy for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”
Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of the Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions, and Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, said that “the indiscriminate and disproportionate nature of nuclear weapons compel[s] the world to move beyond nuclear deterrence.”
Citing Pope Francis, the prelates said that “nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states.” They acknowledged that “as pastors and moral teachers, it is beyond our competence to chart out the exact path to a world without nuclear weapons.”
The prelates issued their statement on July 6, as a United Nations conference on nuclear weapons was drawing to a close.
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