Vatican asks to reduce military spending and nuclear weapons

The permanent observer of the Holy See before the United Nations, Archbishop Ettore Balero, said this September 16 that “it is urgent to restore a peaceful balance in international relations and continue a coordinated effort to promote disarmament in favor of the consolidation of peace.”

The speech of Mons. Balero, according to Vatican Newswas framed at the XIII Meeting of the Convention on Munitions in Racimo, from where he remarked that “it is a legal obligation” to promote that more countries adhere to the Convention, to work especially “in regards to assistance to the victims.”

“Adhesion and respect for international law, including international humanitarian law, are not a form of weakness. On the contrary, they are a noble way of responsibility for all humanity,” he said.

Mons. Balero also said that it is “through the force of reason, not through the force of weapons, that justice progresses.” In that sense, he said that the Holy See condemns the use of weapons in cluster, for its dangerous effects on the civilian population.

“Victims assistance should be considered a shared responsibility, rooted in international cooperation and solidarity,” added the Vatican diplomat in his speech on Tuesday.

According to figures presented by the archbishop, last year there was a deep imbalance of more than 2.7 billion dollars between the resources destined for military spending and those used for the assistance to the victims of conflicts or those in need of the whole world.

This represents a “scandal”, according to Mons. Balero, because “a lasting peace is not possible without a real disarma.” Although it is “legitimate and necessary” that each country safeguards its sovereignty, “the obligation to provide the defense itself should not become an arms race,” he said.

“The right to legitimate defense is not absolute. It must be accompanied not only of the duty to minimize and, when possible, eliminate the deep causes or the threat of conflict, but also of the duty to limit military capacities to the strictly necessary for security and legitimate defense,” added the archbishop.

Given this reality, the Holy See calls a determined “Promotion of effective negotiations on disarmament and control of armaments and in strengthening international humanitarian law.”

Prevent the increase in nuclear weapons “is a moral imperative”

Also on September 16, Mons. Daniel Pacho, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs of the Holy See, participated in the 69th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) where he assured that guaranteeing the peaceful use of nuclear energy and preventing the proliferation of the atomic armament “is a moral imperative.”

This intention becomes “particularly evident in the current era, in which the incongruity of assigning valuable resources to the development and accumulation of nuclear weapons contrasts markedly with the fact that so many people on this planet fight to survive,” said Mons. Pacho.

The Undersecretary also expressed concern about the significant increase in military expenditure in the world, in particular in nuclear matters, which qualifies as “an affront to all humanity, since a serious nuclear confrontation would undoubtedly have an irreparable and devastating impact, and would result in a loss of unprecedented human lives.”

Mons. Pacho recalled the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which this year turned 80, and recalled that for the Holy See it is crucial to respect the Missions monitoring and verification of Oiea, “to reconstruct the mutual confidence necessary to resume dialogue, build peace and guarantee regional and global security.”

In addition, he pointed out that the attack on nuclear facilities in the midst of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East has “the potential to cause greater escalation, further aggravating the situation”, so he recalled the words of Leo XIV, who has called to “revitalize multilateral diplomacy” to solve these situations peacefully.