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Pope Francis, Monday, travelled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and standing before survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing, Francis said a world without nuclear weapons is possible.
Francis said it is “perverse” to think the threat of nuclear weapons makes the world safer.
Calling their use a crime against the dignity of humanity and against any possible future of our common home, the pope called the use of atomic weapons immoral.
“Future generations will rise to condemn our failure if we spoke of peace but did not act to bring it about among the peoples of the earth,” the pope said.
“How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?
“How can we speak about peace even as we justify illegitimate actions by speeches filled with discrimination and hate?”
Francis said it made no sense to advance a policy of nuclear deterrence – counting on mutually assured destruction – to keep the peace.
“A world of peace, free from nuclear weapons, is the aspiration of millions of men and women everywhere,” the pope said in Nagasaki.
Highlighting the billions of dollars spent each year on maintaining nuclear stockpiles and developing new weapons, Francis said it was not possible to be indifferent to the plea of our brothers and sisters in need.
“No one can turn a deaf ear to the plea of our brothers and sisters in need.”
“No one can turn a blind eye to the ruin caused by a culture incapable of dialogue”, he said.
The Holy See was among the first countries to sign and ratify the new U.N. nuclear prohibition treaty,
Francis himself went further than any pope before him in saying in 2017 that not only the use but the mere possession of atomic weapons is “to be condemned.”
Tomohide Hirayama, a former Nagasaki resident who travelled from another prefecture to see the pope, said his religious faith was different but he fully supported Francis’ call for a nuclear-free world.
“There were atomic attacks twice in history, and there should never be a third time,” he said.
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