■ The pope denounces the “pain” of nuclear weapons as he visits Japan.

Prays at memorial to Nagasaki blast victims

NAGASAKI, Japan — Pope Francis demanded that world leaders renounce atomic weapons and the Cold War-era doctrine of deterrence, saying Sunday that the stockpiling of nuclear arms decreases security, wastes resources and threatens humanity with catastrophic destruction.

Francis made the appeal in Nagasaki at ground zero of the second of the two 1945 U.S. atomic bombings on Japan.

After laying a wreath of flowers and praying at the foot of the memorial to the victims, Francis said the place stands as a stark reminder “of the pain and horror that we human beings are capable of inflicting upon one another.”

“Convinced as I am that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary, I ask political leaders not to forget that these weapons cannot protect us from current threats to national and international security,” he said.

Francis visited Nagasaki — and later Hiroshima — during his threeday trip to Japan aimed at emphasizing his call for a global ban on atomic weapons.

The Holy See was among the first countries to sign and ratify the new U.N. nuclear prohibition treaty, and Francis himself has gone further than any pope before him in saying not only the use, but the mere possession of atomic weapons is “to be condemned.”

Francis lamented the “climate of distrust” that is eating away at non-proliferation efforts and the arms control framework. The U.S. formally withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty in August.

Gregorio Borgia The Associated Press Pope Francis meets with bishops at the Apostolic Nunciature on Saturday in Tokyo. The pope arrived in Japan earlier in the day for a three-day visit. On Sunday he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, sites of atomic blasts during World War II.