Archbishop Gallagher: Nuclear weapons pose existential threat

Archbishop Paul Gallagher

Source: Vatican Media

The Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, expresses the Holy See's "deep concern" over the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons, in his remarks to the High-Level Segment of the UN's 2025 Session of the Conference on Disarmament.

"Immense military expenditures, that often go far beyond what is necessary to ensure legitimate defence, foment the vicious circle of an exhausting arms race that diverts vital resources away from poverty eradication, justice, education, and healthcare."

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, stressed this on Wednesday in a statement to the UN's High-Level Segment of the 2025 Session of the Conference on Disarmament taking place in Geneva on February 24-28.

Offering the participants the Pope's cordial greetings, he said, "Today we stand at a turning point."

"Together, as a family of nations we can take just and courageous actions for a general, balanced, and complete disarmament under effective international control."

Otherwise, he warned, the alternative "is the perpetuation of conflicts, violence, increasing inequalities, and environmental degradation, from which ultimately benefits no one but the arms lobby."

Archbishop Gallagher said the Conference on Disarmament "has been held hostage to a stalemate" that has continued year after year "without the adoption of a proper negotiating mandate."

The raison d'être of this body, he recalled, is to negotiate multilateral disarmament instruments and to deliver concrete results.

In this regard, he said, it must be recalled that all peoples of the world have a vital interest in the success of the disarmament negotiations.

"Consequently all States have the duty-as well as the right-to contribute and to participate in such negotiations."

"Massive and competitive arms accumulation, seems to contradict the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, in which States resolve "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace."

Archbishop Gallagher recalled Pope Francis' recent appeal to "reduce military expenditures on weapons" and to "use at least a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global Fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change."

As Pope Francis strongly affirms, Archbishop Gallagher said, it is necessary "to overcome the logic of confrontation and embrace instead the logic of encounter."

Therefore, he said, the Holy See encourages the conference to adopt a renewed sense of urgency and commitment to reach concrete and lasting agreements for the sake of the common good, "before it may be too late."

Archbishop Gallagher said the Holy See remains "deeply concerned" about the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons and their proliferation.

"Peace and international stability, are incompatible with attempts to build upon the fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total annihilation."

He expressed concern over the "continuous expansion and modernization of nuclear arsenals, accompanied by escalating rhetoric and threats concerning their deployment." The means to promote peace and stability today, he insisted, should not be of those that would reignite or fuel the dangerous pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"Moreover," he appealed, "it is urgent that nuclear weapons states engage in serious negotiations to reduce and eventually eliminate their stockpiles in accordance with their obligations under Art. VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons."

He also discussed the weaponization of Artificial Intelligence (AI), observing "the ability to conduct military operations through remote control systems has led to a lessened perception of the devastation caused by those weapon systems and the burden of responsibility for their use, resulting in an even more cold and detached approach to the immense tragedy of war."

In particular, Archbishop Gallagher reminded the participants that Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), which are capable of identifying and striking targets without direct human intervention and control, "are a cause for grave ethical concern' because they lack the 'unique human capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making."