US, Japanese bishops warn 9 nuclear powers are killing non-proliferation treaty

[pnwmom]

Several U.S. and Japanese Catholic bishops seeking nuclear disarmament are expressing both urgency and wariness, as the United Nations hosts a conference on a non-proliferation treaty at a time when the U.N. head himself admits "arms control is dying."

In an April 27 statement, the archbishops of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Seattle joined their fellow bishops from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in warning that as "nuclear threats are escalating," the world is "sliding backwards with massive modernization programs to keep nuclear weapons forever."

Signing the document were Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle; Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki and his predecessor, Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami; and Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Hiroshima.

The bishops' message comes at the opening of the Eleventh Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which is taking place April 27-May 22 at U.N. headquarters in New York.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/us-japanese-bishops-warn-9-nuclear-powers-are-killing-non-proliferation-treaty