The Holy See’s apostolic nuncio to the United Nations has called for an international political ban on nuclear weapons, stressing the “risk of a cataclysmic tragedy.”
Lamenting “the continued existence of some 17,000 nuclear weapons,” Archbishop Francis Chullikatt told a UN commitee April 30 that 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.”
Archbishop Chulikatt made his remarks during a meeting of the third session of the preparatory committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference on April 30, which were published in the May 14 edition of L’Osservatore Romano.
Aiming to free the world from «the potential specter of mass destruction,” the Holy See has worked to abolish nuclear weapons for “many years,” he said.
“Today, we renew that moral call to inspire and animate constructive work,” said the prelate, “to preserve our planet and all of humanity.”
Drawing attention to the urgent need for economic and social development for the world’s poorest, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, he said 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.” (D.C.L.)
