By Isabella H. de Carvalho
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, has called on the international community to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and work towards their elimination.
He made the call in a statement read during the Thematic Discussion, which took place on Tuesday, Oct 21, during the First Committee of the 80th Session of the UN’s General Assembly in New York.
“The Holy See affirms its unwavering conviction that efforts to control, limit, reduce, and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons are not an unrealistic prospect, but a possibility and an urgent moral imperative,” he said.
“Peace cannot be built on the threat of total destruction or on the illusion that stability can emerge from mutual potential annihilation, as this is both morally indefensible and strategically unsustainable,” said the Archbishop.
States should join disarmament treaties
Archbishop Caccia urged all “nuclear-armed States” to “fulfill their obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)” to “negotiate in good faith with the aim of reducing and ultimately eliminating their stockpiles.”
The Holy See, he continued, also calls for states to join the NPT and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and “to advance complementary measures, including the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the negotiating of a treaty on fissile materials, and the strengthening of robust verification and assistance mechanisms.”
Dangers of artificial intelligence
The Holy See’s Permanent Observer pointed out that, today, there is “an alarming resurgence in rhetoric threatening the use of nuclear weapons,” along with “renewed efforts to expand arsenals,” justified “by the flawed logic of deterrence,” which instead promotes fear and further destabilizes international security.”
He underscored as especially concerning “the integration of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and cyber technologies into nuclear command, control, and deployment systems.”
These technologies, he said, “shorten decision-making windows, reduce human oversight, and increase the risk of miscalculation and error,” producing uncertainty and requiring “sustained attention” from the international community.
Resources devoted to armaments are a moral defeat
Archbishop Caccia highlighted how still today—80 years after the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—nuclear weapons continue “to pose one of the greatest threats to international peace and security.”
He insisted that the “suffering and destruction” that resulted from these events are “a sobering and enduring reminder of the catastrophic potential of these weapons” and of the “shared responsibility to prevent such tragedies from happening again.”
“The enormous resources devoted to armaments, while so many continue to suffer, constitute a profound moral defeat,” he said, adding that true security requires “protecting life, promoting justice, and fostering peace.”
He urged the international community to “commit to a human-centered vision of security, grounded in dialogue, fraternity, and respect for the inherent God-given dignity of every person.” – Vatican News
