Archbishops from Seattle, Santa Fe, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki issued their warning as the Eleventh NPT Review Conference opened at the UN in New York, citing escalating nuclear threats and modernization by nine nuclear-armed states.
The bishops criticized the US, Russia, and other nuclear powers for failing to negotiate disarmament and instead expanding warhead stockpiles, with Russia holding 5,420 and the US 5,042 of the world’s 12,331 warheads.
They expressed skepticism about the conference’s prospects, noting past failures, and voiced hope for progress at the upcoming Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons meeting, highlighting the Vatican’s leadership in nuclear disarmament advocacy.
As global nuclear arsenals grow for the ninth straight year, is the Non-Proliferation Treaty failing?
Why does NATO oppose the nuclear ban treaty while claiming to support eventual disarmament?
Can moral appeals from religious leaders ever overcome the national security logic of nuclear deterrence?
With the last US-Russia arms treaty now expired, is a new nuclear arms race inevitable?
Are trillions spent on nuclear modernization a rational choice in a world facing multiple crises?
How does the ongoing US-Iran war fundamentally alter the global risk of nuclear proliferation?