VATICAN SUPPORTS NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION + NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

UNITED NATIONS [CNS]

The Vatican’s chief representative to the United Nations has set forth a series of steps that will move the world toward the goal of eventual nuclear disarmament.

Speaking at the U. N. May 5, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, papal nuncio to the world body, reaffirmed the Vatican’s support for the nuclear nonproliferation treaty in offering five “concrete, transparent, and convincing” steps that could be achieved in “a short period of time” to demonstrate the world’s willingness to end the threat that nuclear weapons pose.

Archbishop Migliore called for:

* Adherence to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which outlaws nuclear weapons testing.

* The immediate opening of negociations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty that would prohibit the further production of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium.

* An end to reliance on nuclear weapons as a part of military policy among nuclear states.

* Giving oversight of the peaceful use of nuclear energy to the International Atomic Energy Agency and expanding the agency’s role to include the non-proliferation side of the treaty.

* Developing an agreement on the production of nuclear fuel to meet growing energy needs, with the International Atomic Energy Agency taking a leading role to ensure safety, security and fair access for countries.

“The Holy See thus calls upon all the nuclear weapons states,” the archbishop said, to create “a climate of trust, transparency, and true co-operation, with a view to the concrete realization of a culture of life and peace.”  The treaty is to be reviewed in 2010.

 

CCC reprint: The B. C. Catholic, May 25, 2009, page 18