By John Erath
Pope Francis died April 21 after a serious illness, and the world lost one of its best advocates for peace. In recent years, it has become fashionable to criticize the Catholic Church for its institutional shortcomings, but the focus on the problems should not take away from the church’s record as a voice against arms races and for understanding and dialogue. Of course, this should be expected from the leader of a religion, but all too often those professing religious beliefs have used faith as a justification for violence, most recently seen in the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for aggression against Ukraine. Pope Francis told students, “We often talk about peace when we feel directly threatened…In reality, peace always concerns us, always!”
Moreover, the late Pope was a consistent voice on the dangers of nuclear weapons. Since 1945, all Popes have supported nuclear disarmament, but Pope Francis was unequivocal in his view that nuclear weapons do not provide safety. “These weapons cannot protect us from current threats to national and international security.”
At a time when China is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal and other nuclear states are considering similar steps, there should be more leaders of the late Pope’s mind.
At a time when China is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal and other nuclear states are considering similar steps, there should be more leaders of the late Pope’s mind.
Pope Francis was particularly eloquent when he addressed the issue of nuclear weapons from Hiroshima in 2019.
“Peace and international stability are incompatible with attempts to build upon the fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total annihilation.” He went on to note: “The arms race wastes precious resources that could be better used to benefit the integral development of peoples,” consistent with his lifelong concerns with social justice and support to victims of human action.
Some will look on Pope Francis’ message with skepticism. After all, nuclear weapons have been around for 80 years, and the pace of their elimination slowed and even reversed in the last decade. The reaction of the West to Russia’s nuclear threats, particularly the invidious suggestion that Moscow needs to be placated with Ukrainian territory to reduce the risk of nuclear war, has reinforced that deterrence works.
This has led some leaders, seemingly including those in Beijing, to conclude that more would be better. Pope Francis’ predecessor, St. John Paul II, during the Cold War, found that deterrence was morally acceptable “on the way toward a progressive disarmament,” an important affirmation that the ultimate goal, however remote, should be a world without nuclear weapons. As we reflect on the late Pope’s legacy, clarity that the world will always be better off with fewer, not more, nuclear weapons is badly needed.
The former Pontiff’s first act as Pope was to select the name by which he would be known. The then-Cardinal Bergoglio chose Francis as a clear reference to St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century religious reformer. St. Francis was credited as the author of a prayer beginning “Make me an instrument of peace.”
As the world faces conflicts and nuclear threats, it could use another such instrument.
