Catholic Religious Australia (CRA), in an Open Letter to the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, has called on the Government to sign and ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hiroshima Memorial Park. Photo: T. Coutinho, 2024
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a comprehensive international legal instrument banning nuclear weapons, grounded in humanitarian principles and with the global support of 94 signatories and 73 state parties. The Australian Government has stated its support for the Treaty but has not yet signed up.
“Instead of heeding the lessons from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 80 years on from the atomic bombings the threat of nuclear war is growing as nations continue to develop and stockpile weapons,” said Br Gerard Brady CFC, CRA President.
“Pope Leo XIV has stated that the temptation to have recourse to powerful and sophisticated weapons needs to be rejected, as these can only lead to barbarities of war on a scale the world has never before experienced,” he added.
Following the devastation of the Second World War, the Church has been a strong advocate for the prohibition of atomic weapons, including Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris which called for a nuclear ban, the Second Vatican Council document Gaudium et Spes which urged for an end to the arms race and the amassing of scientific weapons, and the Address of Pope Francis on Nuclear Weapons, in which he stated that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary.
“Australia’s religious women and men today add their voices to a long line of Church teachings and commentaries calling for an end to a nuclear-weaponised world,” said Anne Walker, CRA National Executive Director.
“CRA urges the Australian government to play its part in making this a reality by signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is time for Australia to take an unambiguous stance for peace,” she concluded.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Anne Walker |T: 0409936711 | E: nationalexec@catholicreligious.org.au