Pope hopes to shift nuke paradigm: Deterrence to disarmament
AP, Vatican City :
The Vatican on Friday hosted Nobel laureates, U.N. and NATO officials and a handful of nuclear powers at a conference aimed at galvanizing support for a global shift from the Cold War era policy of nuclear deterrence to one of total nuclear disarmament.
Pope Francis was to address the conference, adding his voice to the campaign that produced a new U.N. treaty calling for the elimination of atomic weapons, and a Nobel Peace Prize for the small advocacy group that was instrumental in pushing the treaty through.
Among those speaking at the two-day meeting were Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the Nobel-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and Masako Wada, who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and has gone onto become a prominent disarmament activist.
Drawing laughs from the largely secular audience, Turkson said it was “divine providence” that the conference and U.S. president’s trip coincided.
The Vatican on Friday hosted Nobel laureates, U.N. and NATO officials and a handful of nuclear powers at a conference aimed at galvanizing support for a global shift from the Cold War era policy of nuclear deterrence to one of total nuclear disarmament.
Pope Francis was to address the conference, adding his voice to the campaign that produced a new U.N. treaty calling for the elimination of atomic weapons, and a Nobel Peace Prize for the small advocacy group that was instrumental in pushing the treaty through.
Among those speaking at the two-day meeting were Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the Nobel-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and Masako Wada, who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and has gone onto become a prominent disarmament activist.
Drawing laughs from the largely secular audience, Turkson said it was “divine providence” that the conference and U.S. president’s trip coincided.
