Vatican supports complete elimination of nuclear weapons

September 27, 2013 - A top Vatican official has lent full support to the efforts of the United Nations in the complete elimination of nuclear weapons in response to “the cry of humanity to be freed from the spectre of nuclear warfare.” Speaking at a high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament at the UN in New York on Thursday, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Arch. Dominique Mamberti pointed to the hollowness of avowed “good faith’ efforts, when nuclear weapons states continue modernization programmes of weapons of mass destruction. Speaking about the urgency of addressing in a systematic and coherent manner the legal, political and technical requisites for a world free from nuclear arms, the Vatican official urged for starting preparatory work without delay on the Convention or a framework agreement for a phased and verifiable elimination of nuclear arms. Rather than leading to genuine nuclear disarmament, Archbishop Mamberti said that the policy of nuclear deterrence was instead driving the development of ever newer nuclear arms. “ We cannot justify the continuation of a permanent nuclear deterrence policy, given the loss of human, financial and material resources in time of scarcity of funds for health, education and social services around the world and in the face of current threats to human security, such as poverty, climate change, terrorism and transnational crimes,” Archbishop Mamberti added. (Source: Vatican)