Pope calls for a nuclear weapon-free world
In a highly anticipated address, Pope Francis stood Sunday on the sites where in 1945 the United States detonated nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — killing over 100,000 civilians — and called for a world “free from nuclear weapons.”
“The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral,” Francis said. “We will be judged on this.”
While the pope’s call for nuclear disarmament has been lauded by current political and religious leaders, that position raised warning flags decades ago for many prominent U.S. bishops and even the Vatican under Francis’ predecessor, Pope John Paul II. While never endorsing the arms race, John Paul saw nuclear deterrence as justified to fight Soviet communism, despite the fact that in 1963, Pope John XXIII — known as the “peace pope” — had said that nuclear weapons should be banned.
On Sunday, Pope Francis called on all governments to stop participating in the nuclear weapons complex
“Our response to the threat of nuclear weapons must be joint and concerted, inspired by the arduous yet constant effort to build mutual trust and thus surmount the current climate of distrust,” the pope said.
His speech comes at an especially critical place, Hiroshima, and at a critical moment. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is attempting to revise the country’s constitution to allow for rearmament and global spending toward the stockpile of arms continues to surge.
While the timing and the place are significant, Francis has made similar suggestions before. At a Vatican conference on disarmament in 2017, he said that the possession of nuclear weapons must be “firmly condemned” because of the possibility of an accidental detonation.