Japanese bishops urge total abolition of nuclear arms

(February 26, 2010) Japanese bishops from Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Friday called on world leaders to work towards the total abolition of nuclear weapons. In an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and the Japanese Government, the bishops said it was time to take the “courageous step.” “Nuclear weapons deprived over one hundred thousand people of their lives in an instant at the end of the previous world war. And bomb survivors continue to suffer physically and spiritually even now,” Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki and Bishop Atsumi Misue of Hiroshima wrote. They demanded “that the President of the United States, the Japanese government and the leaders of other countries make utmost efforts to abolish nuclear weapons.” They said that there are currently more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world and it was “essential” to reduce the number. The bishops urged world leaders to reach an agreement on reducing nuclear weapons at the Nuclear Security Summit in April and the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May.