A leading Vatican diplomat said that the “only lasting response to the dangers posed by nuclear weapons is their total elimination.”
“While measures to reduce nuclear risks are necessary, they cannot substitute for disarmament,” Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said at a recent UN committee meeting.
“The deterioration of the international security environment cannot justify deeper reliance on nuclear weapons,” the prelate added. “On the contrary, it makes the pursuit of their elimination all the more urgent.”
Archbishop El-Kassis also recently expressed “profound concern” about the current nuclear landscape.