Pope sends message to UN conference on nuclear weapons
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to the
“United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to
Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination,” the first
part of which is taking place in New York from 27-31 March. The message was
read by Msgr Antoine Camilleri, Under-Secretary for Relations with States, and
Head of the Delegation of the Holy See to the meeting.
Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’
Message:
To Her Excellency Elayne Whyte Gómez
President of the United Nations Conference
to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument
to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons,
Leading Towards their Total Elimination
President of the United Nations Conference
to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument
to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons,
Leading Towards their Total Elimination
I extend cordial greetings to you, Madam President, and to
all the representatives of the various nations and international organizations,
and of civil society participating in this Conference. I wish to
encourage you to work with determination in order to promote the conditions
necessary for a world without nuclear weapons.
On 25 September 2015, before the General Assembly of the
United Nations, I emphasized what the Preamble and first Article of the United
Nations Charter indicate as the foundations of the international juridical
framework: peace, the pacific solution of disputes and the development of
friendly relations between nations. An ethics and a law based on the
threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind –
are contradictory to the very spirit of the United Nations. We must
therefore commit ourselves to a world without nuclear weapons, by fully
implementing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, both in letter and spirit (cf. Address to
the General Assembly of the United Nations, 25 September 2015).
But why give ourselves this demanding and forward-looking
goal in the present international context characterized by an unstable climate
of conflict, which is both cause and indication of the difficulties encountered
in advancing and strengthening the process of nuclear disarmament and nuclear
non-proliferation?
If we take into consideration the principal threats to peace
and security with their many dimensions in this multipolar world of the
twenty-first century as, for example, terrorism, asymmetrical conflicts,
cybersecurity, environmental problems, poverty, not a few doubts arise
regarding the inadequacy of nuclear deterrence as an effective response to such
challenges. These concerns are even greater when we consider the
catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences that would follow from
any use of nuclear weapons, with devastating, indiscriminate and uncontainable
effects, over time and space. Similar cause for concern arises when
examining the waste of resources spent on nuclear issues for military purposes,
which could instead be used for worthy priorities like the promotion of peace
and integral human development, as well as the fight against poverty, and the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
We need also to ask ourselves how sustainable is a stability
based on fear, when it actually increases fear and undermines relationships of
trust between peoples.
International peace and stability cannot be based on a false
sense of security, on the threat of mutual destruction or total annihilation,
or on simply maintaining a balance of power. Peace must be built on
justice, on integral human development, on respect for fundamental human rights,
on the protection of creation, on the participation of all in public life, on
trust between peoples, on the support of peaceful institutions, on access to
education and health, on dialogue and solidarity. From this perspective,
we need to go beyond nuclear deterrence: the international community is called
upon to adopt forward-looking strategies to promote the goal of peace and
stability and to avoid short-sighted approaches to the problems surrounding
national and international security.
In this context, the ultimate goal of the total elimination
of nuclear weapons becomes both a challenge and a moral and humanitarian
imperative. A concrete approach should promote a reflection on an ethics
of peace and multilateral and cooperative security that goes beyond the fear
and isolationism that prevail in many debates today. Achieving a world
without nuclear weapons involves a long-term process, based on the awareness
that “everything is connected” within the perspective of an integral ecology
(cf. Laudato Si’, 117, 138). The common destiny of mankind
demands the pragmatic strengthening of dialogue and the building and
consolidating of mechanisms of trust and cooperation, capable of creating the
conditions for a world without nuclear weapons.
Growing interdependence and globalization mean that any
response to the threat of nuclear weapons should be collective and concerted,
based on mutual trust. This trust can be built only through dialogue that
is truly directed to the common good and not to the protection of veiled or
particular interests; such dialogue, as far as possible, should include all:
nuclear states, countries which do not possess nuclear weapons, the military
and private sectors, religious communities, civil societies, and international
organizations. And in this endeavour we must avoid those forms of mutual
recrimination and polarization which hinder dialogue rather than encourage
it. Humanity has the ability to work together in building up our common
home; we have the freedom, intelligence and capacity to lead and direct
technology, to place limits on our power, and to put all this at the service of
another type of progress: one that is more human, social and integral (cf.
ibid., 13, 78, 112; Message for the 22nd Meeting of the Conference of
Parties to the United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate Change (COP22),
10 November 2016).
This Conference intends to negotiate a Treaty inspired by
ethical and moral arguments. It is an exercise in hope and it is my wish
that it may also constitute a decisive step along the road towards a world
without nuclear weapons. Although this is a significantly complex and
long-term goal, it is not beyond our reach.
Madam President, I sincerely wish that the efforts of this
Conference may be fruitful and provide an effective contribution to advancing
an ethic of peace and of multilateral and cooperative security, which humanity
very much needs today. Upon all those gathered at this important meeting,
and upon the citizens of the countries you represent, I invoke the blessings of
the Almighty.
FRANCIS
From the Vatican, 23 March 2017
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