Pax Christi: Never Again War! Nuclear Weapons are now illegal

Pax Christi in England and Wales, along with many of our partners, celebrates the entry into force of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [TPNW] today, 22 January 2021.

The TPNW was originally negotiated, and successfully campaigned for, at the UN by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] in December 2016. It is the first international pact outlawing the development, testing, possession and use of nuclear weapons. In October 2020, it was ratified by 50 states, reaching the threshold for bringing the treaty into international law.

Decades of campaigning by Pax Christi members, with activists from all over the world, have achieved what many said was impossible: the banning of nuclear weapons. In the UK, from Molesworth to Aldermaston, Greenham to Faslane Pax Christi members, with other faith groups, such as Christian CND, have stood in silent prayer and witness, marched and blockaded and while lying locked on or glued to each other in the mud have been hooted at by drivers, insulted and been told to 'get a job'. Many have been arrested for their participation in these nonviolent actions.

Since 1983, Pax Christi has held an annual Ash Wednesday witness outside the Ministry of Defence, to repent of the sin of nuclear weapons and to mourn the people who have suffered because of them. As part of the liturgy, members have marked the walls of the Ministry of Defence with blessed charcoal, which has sometimes led to arrest. In front of judges they have explained, over and over, that their faith forbids them from standing by and doing nothing. COVID 19 means that we shall be unable to be present in London this year but we shall meet on zoom to repent and to renew our commitment to the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

In his latest encyclical, 'Fratelli Tutti', Pope Francis casts strong doubts on the concept of the Just War, calling instead for, 'Never again war!' (p65). He writes: 'With the money spent on weapons and other military expenditures, let us establish a global fund that can finally put an end to hunger.'

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, Archbishop of Liverpool and President of Pax Christi England and Wales, has signed a statement from Pax Christi International in support of the treaty. Other signatories include bishops from all over the world, including Japan, the Philippines and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bishops of England Wales and Scotland have issued their own statement, urging the UK to abandon its nuclear arsenal, adding that, '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.'

See: www.cbcew.org.uk/statement-on-the-treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons/

Don't Bank on The Bomb, says: 'there is a growing understanding that financing is a form of prohibited assistance in developing nuclear weapons.' Pax Christi, as part of an interfaith working group, produced the report, 'Investing in Change', https://moneyoutofnukes.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/banks-pensions-and-nuclear-weapons.pdf , which can be used to challenge pension providers and banks to divest from nuclear weapons. For instance, the Dutch pension fund APB divested from nuclear weapons, seeing them as illegal weapons alongside mines and cluster bombs. Many see this form of resistance as one of the most effective for the future as financial institutions start to see investing in nuclear weapons as too risky. www.dontbankonthebomb.com/50thratification/

Pax Christi will be joining the member groups of the Christian Coalition of Peace Organisations (NCPO) in a Thanksgiving Service at 11.30am on Friday 22nd January. This service will end with the ringing of the Peace Bell at Coventry Cathedral and the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation.

Pax Christi's website has a large selection of resources for information and ideas for action that can be taken to strengthen support and asking the UK Government to sign and ratify the Treaty. We are asking members: to pray for a nuclear free world; to put posters in their windows; to lobby their local Councils and Councillors to commit to be Nuclear Free Local Authorities; to ask Mayors to sign up to 'Mayors for Peace'; to arrange a virtual meeting with MPs and ask them to sign Early Day Motion 1072 and to sign the online petitions to our own government and to the nine nuclear weapons countries. Please join us in these activities to free the world of nuclear weapons.

Henrietta Cullinan is an Executive Member of Pax Christ, England and Wales.

Pax Christi England and Wales: https://paxchristi.org.uk/ (Contains the link to the Thanksgiving Service at 11.30am 22 January.)

Pax Christi Scotland - www.paxchristiscotland.org/

Pax Christi International - https://paxchristi.net/