Vatican City, Mar 28, 2017 / 07:55 am
On Tuesday, Pope Francis acknowledged the difficulty of totally eliminating nuclear weapons, but said the challenge is still a necessary undertaking, especially given what's at stake.
"The ultimate goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons becomes both a challenge and a moral and humanitarian imperative," he said in a message to United Nations members March 28.
The message was read before the "United Nations conference aimed at negotiating a legally binding instrument on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, leading to their total elimination," held in New York March 27-31.
Presented by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, Secretary for Relations with States and head of the Holy See's delegation at the meetings, the Pope's message acknowledged that the goal is a "demanding" and "forward-looking" one.