October 8, 2006 - Vatican Continues to Make Strong Statements Urging Disarmament

NOTE: Key terms are in bold and definitions can be found in section after the article text.

In the months leading up to Disarmament Week (October 24-30), the Vatican has been anything but silent about its position on large—and small—weapons of destruction.

Most recently, on September 18, 2006, Monsignor Pietro Parolin made a statement on behalf of the Vatican at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in which he urged nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament among the world's countries. At an August 28-30, 2006 UN meeting of governmental experts on the Convention on Conventional Weapons, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the UN, appealed for a moratorium on cluster bombs, repeating sentiments he had also expressed months earlier at a meeting June 19-23, 2006. Finally, in late August 2006, the Vatican participated in the 8th World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Kyoto, Japan.

The involvement by the Vatican in issues of disarmament is not a new phenomenon. As the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states, "it is indispensable to make use of common rules in a commitment to negotiation and to reject definitively the idea that justice can be sought through recourse to war" (438). Church teaching supports "general, balanced, and controlled disarmament" which includes "the banning of weapons that inflict excessively traumatic injury or that strike indiscriminately. This includes anti-personnel landmines. . ." (508, 510).

Vatican Statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency

In a Sept. 18, 2006 statement from the Vatican to participants in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting, Monsignor Pietro Parolin identified as a "major concern" some countries' "non-compliance with the Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the safeguards obligations of the Treaty."

"The Holy See regards the NPT as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non- proliferation regime," Parolin said on September 18, and "as the basis to pursue nuclear disarmament and an important element for further development of nuclear energy applications for peaceful purposes." The NPT "must not be allowed to be weakend," Parolin said, and he quoted Pope Benedict XVI's Message for the World Day of Peace 2006: "What can be said, too, 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. The truth of peace requires that all - whether those governments which openly or secretly possess nuclear arms, or those planning to acquire them - agree to change their course by clear and firm decisions, and strive for a progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament".

In addition to the NPT, Parolin also focused in his message on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), calling it "a key to global security that does not rely on nuclear weapons and represents the best hope of stemming nuclear proliferation." Parolin urged those states which have not signed or ratified the treat, like the U.S. (which has signed but not ratified), to do so: "The Holy See joins other States to call upon all States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Treaty without delay, in particular those States whose ratification is needed for its entry into force."

On the topic of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, Parolin recalled the disastrous accident of Chernobyl and pointed out that "great efforts on the part of States to ensure an effective protection of their citizens and the environment and to answer to the legitimate worries about the future of our planet" are still needed. Finally, regarding Iran, Parolin reiterated that "the Holy See is firmly convinced that the present difficulties can and must be overcome through diplomatic channels, making use of all the means that diplomacy has at its disposal and considers necessary to eliminate all the elements which objectively impede mutual trust."

Vatican Calls for Moratorium on Cluster Bombs

On September 7, 2006, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi appealed for a moratorium on cluster munitions or bombs in his statement to a group of governmental experts on the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Archbishop Tomasi called the continued use of cluster munitions a "humanitarian tragedy." "The images and testimonies reaching us are alarming," he said. "The victims of past conflicts and the potential victims of future conflicts cannot wait for years of negotiations and discussions" on the use of the weapons, Archbishop Tomasi continued.

He called for a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions as well as for the adoption of an international treaty to ban or restrict the use of these weapons, which currently are legally used in war. However, "the fact of declaring a weapon legitimate does not make it more acceptable or less inhuman," he said.

Pope Benedict XVI Addresses World Assembly of Religions for Peace

At this year's World Assembly in late August, in which 800 religious leaders participated, a message from Pope Benedict XVI was read by Japanese Catholic Cardinal Fumio Hamao, former president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. Pope Benedict's message declared that "peace is not just the absence of war, but is a gift of God, and so we all have a responsibility for peace."

These statements and events lead up to Disarmament Week, a week which has been celebrated since 1978, when it was called for in the Final Document of the General Assembly of the United Nations' special assembly on disarmament. The Vatican is continuing to participate in Disarmament Week through its continued strong commitment to peace, nuclear nonproliferation, and disarmament.

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
Nonproliferation: Nonproliferation refers to the prevention of the spread of weapons, while nuclear nonproliferation specifically refers to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Disarmament: Disarmament refers to the act of reducing weapons or armaments. Nuclear disarmament refers specifically to reducing the number of nuclear weapons or armaments stockpiled by countries.

Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): an international treaty that was created in 1968 in which the countries that possessed nuclear weapons promised not to spread nuclear weapons technology to others, while non-nuclear countries promised they would not seek out nuclear weapons capabilities. In addition, states with nuclear weapons promised to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons, and states agreed that nuclear technology would only be used for peaceful purposes.

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT): a treaty which bans all nuclear explosions for both military and civilian purposes.

Chernobyl: The Chernobyl disaster took place in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine when a nuclear reactor exploded. A 2005 report by the Chernobyl Forum, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 6.6 million people were highly exposed to radiation and that 9,000 people may die from some form of cancer caused by the accident.

Cluster munitions, also Cluster bombs: Cluster munitions are weapons commonly used in warfare which are fired, launched, or dropped by aircraft or land vehicles. The cargo containers, when fired, open and disperse large numbers of submunitions (bomblets or grenades) over a target area and they explode when they come into contact with something. The vast majority if cluster munitions contain hundreds of unguided bomblets which cover a large area (.4 square miles) with explosions and shrapnel. Often, the bomblets will not hit any target and can rest unexploded for many years after a conflict is over. The Federation of American Scientists reports that 40 percent of these "duds" on the ground are still hazardous and will explode when a civilian comes into contact with it (such as walking or running over it when hidden in grass) later.

Conventional weapons: Weapons that are not chemical, biological, or nuclear. The phrase is most often used to describe the arsenal of weapons that existed before these other types of weapons were developed in the twentieth century.

World Assembly of Religions for Peace: The World Assemblies have taken place every five years since the first meeting in October of 1970 in Kyoto, Japan, with consistent participation by Catholic leaders. In 1994, when the assembly took place at the Vatican and Italy, Pope John Paul II hosted the opening ceremony, calling for "all religions to cooperate to promote human life and its dignity."

Sources:
Statement by Monsignor Pietro Parolin at the 50th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Sept. 18, 2006
"Holy See Again Asks for Halt to Cluster Bombs," www.zenit.org, June 23, 2006
"Holy See Asks for Moratorium on Cluster Bombs," www.zenit.org, Sept. 7, 2006.

Action Ideas

• At the end of the 8th World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Kyoto, Japan, religious leaders adopted a Kyoto Declaration, the text of which is available at: www.wcrp.org/files/KyotoDeclaration.pdf. It reads, in part, "Religious communities are called not only to reject war and foreign occupation, sectarian violence, weapons proliferation, and human rights abuse, but also to identify and confront the root causes of injustice, economic inequalities, governance failures, development obstacles, social exclusions, and environmental abuses." Read and reflect on this statement and, if so called, share it with groups of other faiths and invite them to plan a joint, interfaith action for peace.

• Publicize the Vatican's strong statements for peace mentioned here to others in your church, school, or other type of community. Reflect on the quotes in the article above and write prayers incorporating the ideas mentioned in the quotes. Share the prayers with your faith communities.

• Learn more about Cluster Munitions and take action at http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/

Reflection Questions

1) Archbishop Tomasi, in his statement about cluster munitions, makes the distinction between what is legal and what is right. Why is this such an important distinction to make?
2) Pope Benedict's message for the World Assembly of Religions for peace declared that "peace is not just the absence of war." The Kyoto Declaration adopted at the World Assembly of Religions for Peace also identified that developing a peaceful society must go beyond disarmament and nonproliferation to "confront root causes of injustice, economic inequalities, governance failures, development obstacles, social exclusions, and environmental abuses." What are some examples of current or recent conflicts and how have they been exacerbated by root causes? Did proposed solutions to the conflicts take into account these root causes?

3) What Catholic Social Teaching principles could be used to help guide the U.S. in their decision about whether or not to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?

4) Why do you think nuclear nonproliferation has been such a problem in the world since the development of the nuclear bomb? Why do even poor countries spend billions of dollars to try to develop nuclear capabilities? What motivation do they have for doing so? What could countries that already possess nuclear weapons do to lessen the incentive for other countries to develop their own weapons?

Prayer: We Cry Out for Peace!

Peaceful God,
We come to you from the midst of a broken world where nations raise weapons against nations and mothers and children are the innocent victims of violence.
We cry out for peace!

Wise God,
Share your wisdom with the leaders of the world who continue to stockpile dangerous weapons, giving other countries the incentive to do the same, despite their commitment to the Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty. We pray for the ability to overcome our brokenness, cooperating, instead of competing, across borders and boundaries.
We cry out for peace!

God of Comfort,
It is hard to believe that our own country has refused to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, weakening its legitimacy and making our world less safe.
We cry out for peace!

Tender God, Lover of Children,
It is incomprehensible to us that cluster munitions are still acceptable for use in war, despite the terror they wreak upon unsuspecting children and other civilians during war and for many years afterwards.
We cry out for peace!

Healing God,
So many communities have been left in ruins as a result of the destruction of war. We pray for the healing and rebuilding of communities torn apart by war and violence.
We cry out for peace!

God, Father and Mother of this world, we pray that you would inspire us to create a peaceful world. Help us call our leaders to accountability and to remind them that more weapons and war do not bring peace. Make us a peaceful people in a peaceful world. Amen.

by Jill Rauh, Education for Justice