“It was 1963 when John XXIII gave the world that Magna Charta of the Christian vision of peace which is the Pacem in terris” and “finally today it seems that at least a part of the international community has become aware of that distortion of human reason which would lead to conceive of a war whose result would be the mutual and hopeless annihilation of the contenders. And we are not referring only to the nine countries that can count on their own production of nuclear weapons but also to their allies who possess them, becoming both strategic targets and potential global threats. Let us not forget that among these there is also Italy which possesses US nuclear weapons at the sites of Ghedi (Brescia) and Aviano (Pordenone)”. Don Tonio Dell’Olio, president of Pro Civitate Christiana writes it in the November issue of Vita Pastorale. In retracing the path that led to the International Treaty for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, to date signed by 86 nations and ratified by 66, in force since 22 January 2021, the priest recalls the first Conference of the States parties to the Treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons (Vienna, 21-23 June last) from which came a final declaration which reaffirms that the Treaty definitively outlaws those who possess or use nuclear weapons and that “the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons cannot be adequately addressed, they transcend national borders, pose serious implications for human survival and well-being and are incompatible with respect for the right to life”. Strongly reaffirmed, in a continent that sees two opposing blocks that possess nuclear weapons and, sometimes, threaten their use, the concern about the “nine states that still possess about 13,000 nuclear weapons and for the security doctrines that establish the criterion for the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons”.
In his message to the assembly, Pope Francis underlined that “a world free from nuclear weapons is both necessary and possible”; that they “represent a ‘risk multiplier’ which only provides an illusion of a ‘sort of peace'”, and reaffirmed: “The use of nuclear weapons, as well as their mere possession, is immoral”. The most promising result of the Conference, concludes Dell’Olio, is the birth of “an international lobby, authoritative and widespread, which wants to build peace starting from the elimination of the most serious and decisive threat”.