New York City, N.Y., Sep 29, 2021 / 17:00 pm
Reluctant states should sign a treaty banning nuclear weapons, Vatican diplomat Archbishop Paul Gallagher told the United Nations on Tuesday. The nuclear arms race and strategies of nuclear deterrence are dysfunctional, draw resources from humanitarian concerns, and distract from the imperative to seek peace, he said.
“Faced with a global pandemic of uncertain duration and the worsening effects of global climate change, States must reduce military expenditures in the interest of meeting humanitarian needs and the demands of our common home,” Gallagher said Sept. 28. “I particularly urge those States benefiting from the nuclear umbrella to help recalibrate global priorities by supporting nuclear disarmament efforts under the Non-Proliferation Treaty Article VI.”
He criticized factors that help perpetuate the current situation on nuclear weapons. He warned of “the exorbitant spending by a few States in the production and deployment of nuclear arsenals,” saying this is a source of inequality within and across countries.
Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, cited previous Vatican exhortations that governments redirect money for weapons into “a global fund that can finally put an end to hunger and favor development in the most impoverished countries.”