Rearmament and the 'nuclear umbrella' - the words of Pope Francis

By Andrea Tornielli

The winds of war, rearmament involving enormous investments, proposals for reviving nuclear weapons… It is truly striking how, in Europe and throughout the world, the arms race is being presented almost as an inescapable, necessary prospect, and as the only path to take.

After years of silence from diplomacy and the absence of negotiation capabilities, it seems that the only feasible way is rearmament.

Founding fathers such as Alcide De Gasperi, who had supported the creation of a common European army, are invoked to justify very different initiatives, ones that do not involve the European Union but individual states. We are once again talking about the “nuclear umbrella” and “deterrence,” which revives the worst scenarios of the Cold War, but in a climate of greater instability and uncertainty compared to the last century, with the abyss of a Third World War ever closer.

In recent years, with prophetic clarity, Pope Francis has seen the danger approaching. His words are illuminating in understanding the moment we are living through. We amplify the Pope's voice, as he is hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, offering his suffering and prayers for peace in the world.

"Indeed," Pope Francis said in November 2017, "the escalation of the arms race continues unabated and the price of modernizing and developing weaponry, not only nuclear weapons, represents a considerable expense for nations.  As a result, the real priorities facing our human family, such as the fight against poverty, the promotion of peace, the undertaking of educational, ecological and healthcare projects, and the development of human rights, are relegated to second place ... weapons that result in the destruction of the human race are senseless even from a tactical standpoint..."

In November 2019, from Nagasaki, the martyred city of the atomic bomb, the Bishop of Rome stated: "One of the deepest longings of the human heart is for security, peace and stability. The possession of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction is not the answer to this desire; indeed they seem always to thwart it. Our world is marked by a perverse dichotomy that tries to defend and ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security sustained by a mentality of fear and mistrust, one that ends up poisoning relationships between peoples and obstructing any form of dialogue."

He added, "Peace and international stability are incompatible with attempts to build upon the fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total annihilation. They can be achieved only on the basis of a global ethic of solidarity and cooperation in the service of a future shaped by interdependence and shared responsibility in the whole human family of today and tomorrow."

Also in November 2019, from Hiroshima, Pope Francis recalled, adopting the words of Pope Paul VI, that true peace can only be unarmed:

"Indeed, if we really want to build a more just and secure society, we must let the weapons fall from our hands.  “No one can love with offensive weapons in their hands” (SAINT PAUL VI, United Nations Address, 4 October 1965, 10).  When we yield to the logic of arms and distance ourselves from the practice of dialogue, we forget to our detriment that, even before causing victims and ruination, weapons can create nightmares; “they call for enormous expenses, interrupt projects of solidarity and of useful labour, and warp the outlook of nations” (ibid.).  How can we propose peace if we constantly invoke the threat of nuclear war as a legitimate recourse for the resolution of conflicts?  May the abyss of pain endured here remind us of boundaries that must never be crossed.  A true peace can only be an unarmed peace."

The voice of the Successor of Peter, he continued, is “to be the voice of the voiceless, who witness with concern and anguish the growing tensions of our own time: the unacceptable inequalities and injustices that threaten human coexistence, the grave inability to care for our common home, and the constant outbreak of armed conflict, as if these could guarantee a future of peace."

He then condemned not only the use but also the possession of nuclear weapons, which still fill the arsenals of the world with a power capable of destroying humanity many times over: "With deep conviction I wish once more to declare that the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is today, more than ever, a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home.  The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral, as I already said two years ago.  We will be judged on this."

According to the Federation of American Scientists, cited by the daily Italian newspaper Domani, in Europe, there are 290 nuclear warheads under French control and 225 warheads in the United Kingdom. The vast majority of the nuclear warheads – 88% – are in the arsenals of the United States and Russia, with more than 5,000 warheads each. In total, nine countries possess nuclear bombs, including China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and Israel. Today, there are ballistic missiles capable of unleashing destructive power a thousand times greater than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. One might wonder: do we really need more weapons? Is this truly the only way to defend ourselves?

"The Catholic Church," Pope Francis had said in Nagasaki six years ago, "is irrevocably committed to promoting peace between peoples and nations. This is a duty to which the Church feels bound before God and every man and woman in our world... Convinced as I am that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary, I ask political leaders not to forget that these weapons cannot protect us from current threats to national and international security."