Pope Leo criticized on Wednesday the “illusory security” of the global nuclear dissuasion system, on an appeal on the 80th anniversary of the US atomic bomb launch over the Japanese city of Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
Leo, the first US -born Pope, said in his weekly audience that the destruction in Hiroshima, who killed about 78,000 people instantly, should serve “as a universal warning against devastation caused … by nuclear weapons.”
“I hope that in the contemporary world, marked by strong tensions and bloody conflicts, illusory security based on the threat of mutual destruction gives way … to the practice of dialogue,” the Pontiff said.
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Although the Catholic Church has tacitly accepted, for decades, the system of nuclear dissuasion that developed in the Cold War, the predecessor of Leo, Pope Francis, changed the teachings of the Church to condemn the possession of nuclear weapons.
Francisco, who died in April after a 12 -year -old papacy, also strongly supported the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons, which formally entered into force in 2021, but was not supported by none of nuclear weapons nations.
Lion’s appeal on Wednesday came hours after representatives from 120 countries, including the US, attended an annual ceremony in Hiroshima to mark atomic bombing.
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Among the ceremony participants was a delegation of Catholic bishops from Japan, South Korea and the US, including Chicago’s cardinals Blase Cupich and Robert McELROY, Washington, DC
“We vehemently condemn all wars and conflicts, the use and possession of nuclear weapons and the threat of using nuclear weapons,” the bishops said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
