UN- Vatican asks for universal policies on disarmament

(Social Justice South Africa; c.f. Zenit News Service 10/10/08)

Article by Marc Aupiais

Tuesday- Zenit News Reports (Friday 10th October) that Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican representative to the UN- has called for a universal policy on Nuclear weapons- calling the arms race between some Nations- notably including, though not mentioned- the United States of America, and Russia, and China, India and Pakistan- to be against the Spirit of the United Nations. Such Nations are active in causing other less well off nations to abandon nuclear weapons- but themselves retain them against peoples ideas of fair play. The Archbishops thinks that this is harming efforts at non-proliferation.

Other arms races were also looked at by the Archbishop- who claimed that he was glad for the moratorium on cluster bombs recently achieved.

The Catholic church never has apposed war itself- a necessary endeavor in many cases- but does believe in firstly aiming at peaceful means where possible. They also believe that as few lives should be lost in any war as viable. Buying arms to defend one's nation is legitimate- but the reason the Vatican apposes nuclear arms, and cluster bombs so widely in the modern era- is that the threat of using these may be a powerful deterrent- but using them is a mortal sin- and good must never be achieved through evil- as evil only spawns further evil. The use of nuclear weapons- which always harm civilians when aimed at a city, or base- because of their wide range- is always the substance but not always the guilt of mortal sin.

The west must itself lead the way- through diplomacy instead of nuclear weapons- and whether or not they see these as necessary- Christian nations must themselves get rid of their nuclear weapons and focus on conventional and powerful normal means of defense of human rights- while never ceding to threats themselves from other nations with nuclear weapons.