Nuclear Disarmament

and Meeting with

Pax Christi USA

October, 2009

Meeting with Pax Christi USA

Dave Robinson, Executive Director of Pax Christi USAvisit to Rome October, 2009

• Pax Christi proposes that the world be nuclear-free• International statement in 2006 “Get rid of nuclear

weapons through disarmament, legal accountability and good faith.”

• Work is prompted by the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching

• Purpose in Rome to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State (Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone) but met with staff

Call for Prayer and Action

• Strategic timing with the Pope’s statement• Pope speaks to the diplomatic Corps on January 10th

• Impetus to obtain the support of the JPIC Commission and the Executive Leadership of USG/UISG in a letter to the Holy Father

• Move through the Justice, Peace Pontifical Council of Cardinal Turkson, from Ghana, who is the new leader

• Our role to work obtain the Pope’s endorsement so that the Conferences of Bishops can be motivated to change their position on nuclear disarmament

• Later advocacy to grassroots and to governments

Armageddon—Nuclear Nightmare

• 60 years after Hiroshima/Nagasaki more than 26,000 nuclear weapons in the world

• Thousands can be launched within moments• Physicians for Social Responsibility did a

simulated attack on 3 sites with 2 nuclear bombs

• 2.8 million Were killed within the first 24 hours• 5 million in the next 2 weeks• Untold over the years

Arms race—If some countries can build-up why not all

• Nuclear weapons are possessed by less than a dozen countries and they are relatively easy to detect

• Iraq no nuclear weapons—war• Libya had weapons dismantled• South Africa had weapons dismantle• Iran build-up of nuclear weapons• North Korean nuclear weapons

Nuclear Weapons

• Nuclear States—Nine• Russia (7,200-16,000)• United States (5,735-9,960)• China (400)• France (350)• United Kingdom (200)• Israel (75-400)• Pakistan (60)• India (40-45)• North Korea (1-10)•

• NATO• There are 150-240 U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Europe at

the military bases of NATO member states:• Italy Turkey Germany Belgium Netherlands

Spending on nuclear weapons is enormous: The USA spend more than 5.5 trillion dollars

• To put in perspective:– For 20 billion dollars one could reduce hunger,– For 20 billion dollars it is possible to provide shelter,– For 5 billions land mines could be removed, – For 20 billions health care and AIDS could be controlled.

– There is No Global Security Without Nuclear Disarmament by Ivo Slaus

Convergence of many leaders on several sides on issue supporting Nuclear Disarmament

Timing is right

We are challenged for our time

• Request to urge the Holy Father to come out with a strong statement supporting Nuclear Disarmament. Then the Bishops will be able to move away from the formal current Vatican position that deterrence is morally acceptable. (JPII in 1981

• The U.S. Bishops wrote in 1983: “ Deterrence is not an adequate strategy as a long-term basis for peace; it is a transitional strategy justifiable only in conjunction with resolute determination to pursue arms control and disarmament.” (Challenge of Peace).

• ).

UN Observer of Holy See

• “Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the peace we see for the 21st century. They cannot be justified. They deserve condemnation. The preservation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty demands an unequivocal commitment to their abolition. …This is a moral challenge, a legal challenge and a political challenge. That multiple-based challenge must be met by the application of humanity.” (Archbishop Renato Martino United Nations Permanent Observer of the Holy See, October 15, 1997)

Vatican Representative to United Nations

• “The Holy See emphasized that the peace we seek in the 21st century cannot be attained by relaying on nuclear weapons…nuclear weapons assault life on the planet, they assault the planet itself and in so doing they assault the process of the continuing development of the planet.” (Archbishop Celestine Migliore, Vatican Representative to the U.N., May 4, 2005)

“The Gang of Four”

• January 2007 an op-ed article titled ‘A World Free of Nuclear Weapons’ by four high level US Security veterans (Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, William Perry and George Schultz) was published in the Wall Street Journal. By proclaiming ‘zero nuclear weapons’ as the only possible solution, the article shook up mainstream community. About two thirds of all former U.S. Secretaries of State, Secretaries of Defense and National Security Advisors have supported this proposal.

O’Brien’s unique familiarity and credibility with the military signals the seriousness of the U.S. Catholic Church is bringing to the complex and

urgent matter of nuclear disarmament

• Nuclear Weapons and the Moral Questions: The Path to Zero (July 29, 2009)

• The Holy See has ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has actively participated in the Treaty’s review conferences over the past four decades

• Nuclear war-fighting is rejected in Church Teaching because it cannot ensure noncombatant immunity and the likely destruction and lingering radiation would violate the principle of proportionality

• In his 2006 World Day of Peace Message, Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “What can be said… about those governments which count on nuclear arms as a means of ensuring the security of their countries? Along with countless persons of good will, one can state that this point of view is not only baneful but also completely fallacious. In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims.

U.S. Leadership

• President Barack Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev committed “our two countries to achieving nuclear free world.” In July they signed a Joint Understanding to guide negotiations on reducing strategic warheads and delivery vehicles and extending effective verification measures before the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) expires this year (Dec. 5). This is an important step towards disarmament.

• September Meeting of UN Security Council, chaired by President Obama unanimous vote for nuclear disarmament

• Plans to actively pursue ratification of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

Call for People of Faith

• Religion can play a role in nuclear disarmament

• the update from the Pope is needed• Bring language of O’Brien’s speech to the

Vatican

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien

• Archbishop stated: “Religious leaders, prominent officials, and other people of good will who support a nuclear-weapons-free world are not naïve about the task ahead. They know the path will be difficult and will require determined political leadership, strong public support, and the dedicated skills of many capable leaders and technical experts. But difficult is not impossible.”