Vatican News
A just, secure, and lasting peace rests on one pillar: disarmament. The essential path to achieving it and to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons is outlined by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Therefore, the Holy See calls on all states that have not yet done so to accede to the treaty, always bearing in mind the “catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of the use of nuclear weapons,” whose “destructive and far-reaching effects would extend beyond borders and generations.” This recommendation was issued on May 1 by the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the UN in New York, on the occasion of the XI Review Conference of the signatories of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, held from April 27 to May 22.
Lasting peace
“In times of increasing tensions concerning the foundations of international security,” as indicated, it is necessary to “consider the fundamental conditions essential for achieving lasting peace,” Vatican News reports. Nuclear disarmament aims to break the “security model based on fear, the threat of the use of force, and the perpetuation of mutual vulnerability,” which can never constitute a “stable and lasting basis for peace.” The Holy See thus observes so-called “worrying trends,” such as “the resurgence of nuclear rhetoric, the expansion and modernization of nuclear arsenals, and the evolution of deterrence doctrines in a way that threatens to lower intervention thresholds.” Added to this is the erosion of agreements in both arms control and disarmament, “which have long contributed to stability, transparency, and trust.”
Elimination of nuclear weapons
The complete elimination of nuclear weapons, it is believed, “is not a distant vision, but an essential duty that requires concrete and credible steps towards achieving a more just, secure, and lasting peace.” Expressing concern about “the rapid implementation of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, in nuclear systems,” the Permanent Mission therefore reaffirms “the necessity of promoting nuclear risk reduction and de-escalation measures,” bearing in mind the need to limit “the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines” and the importance of “increasing transparency and strengthening communication channels.”
