A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament
Authors: Drew Christiansen Carole Sargent
August 3, 2020
On November 10, 2017, Pope Francis became the first pontiff in the nuclear era to take a complete stand against nuclear weapons, even as a form of deterrence. At a Vatican conference of leaders in the field of disarmament, he made it clear that the possession of the bomb itself was immoral. Edited by Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., and Carole Sargent, A World Free from Nuclear Weapons presents the pope's address and original testimony from Nobel Peace Prize laureates, religious leaders, diplomats, and civil society activists. They make the moral case against possessing, manufacturing, and deploying nuclear arms. Christiansen, a member of the Holy See delegation to the 2017 United Nations conference that negotiated the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, helps readers to understand this conference in its historical context. The book shows how the Catholic Church's revised position presents an opportunity for global leaders to connect disarmament to larger movements for peace, pointing toward future action.
Excerpt | Read the story of Wada Masako on National Catholic Reporter
related | View the companion volume: Forbidden: Receiving Pope Francis's Condemnation of Nuclear Weapons (Georgetown University Press, 2023)
