US Bishops encourage arms reductione efforts

(April 28, 2010) The U.S. bishops are urging Congressmen to ratify the arms reduction treaty and to work continually to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore affirmed this at the Catholic University of America on Monday at a symposium centered on "The Ethics of the Obama Administration's Nuclear Weapons Policy: Catholic Perspectives".
Archbishop O’Brien, a member of the U.S. bishops' conference Committee on International Justice and Peace, spoke about the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed April 8, and the Nuclear Posture Review of the U.S. government. He affirmed that the conference of bishops is urging members of the U.S. Senate to come together across party lines to ratify the START Treaty. The prelate noted that this treaty reduces deployed strategic warheads; limits the United States and Russia to fewer delivery vehicles; and includes new verification requirements. He called it "a significant, yet modest, step in the right direction, which sets the stage for future reductions. Likewise, the Nuclear Posture Review represents a significant, yet modest, shift toward a world free of nuclear weapons," the archbishop affirmed. Archbishop O'Brien stated, "The moral end is clear: a world free of the threat of nuclear weapons."