Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – Catholic bishops urge UK to give up nuclear arsenal
In a Jan. 11 statement, three bishops also called on world leaders to back the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which comes into force on Jan. 22.
“We urge support for the treaty and repeat our call for the U.K. to forsake its nuclear arsenal. The resources spent on manufacturing, maintaining, and upgrading these weapons of mass destruction should be reinvested to alleviate the suffering of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, for the common good of all peoples,” they said.
The treaty, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, is a legally binding agreement to prohibit nuclear weapons with a view to completely eliminating them.
The bishops described the treaty as a “historic milestone on the path to nuclear disarmament.”
They also appealed to the U.K. government to tighten arms control regulations, “tackling the manufacture and sale of other weaponry, which continues to destroy so many lives throughout the world.”
The statement was signed by Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, chairman of the English and Welsh bishops’ international affairs department; Bishop William Nolan of Galloway, president of the Scottish bishops’ justice and peace commission; and Bishop William Kenney, an auxiliary bishop of Birmingham, England.
