NUCLEAR ARMS ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH PEACE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 3, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, head of the delegation of the Holy See before the first Committee of the 57th session of the UN General Assembly on General and Complete Disarmament, delivered an address on October 1.

In his speech, Archbishop Martino, who has recently been appointed as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that "practical measures to consolidate peace, regional disarmament agreements, and especially the measures adopted to curb the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons can be re-energized. These steps, along with the strengthening of the relationship between disarmament and development, can have tremendous effects by improving the conditions for human security throughout the world."

"The Holy See has stated in this Committee many times and repeats now: There can be no moral acceptance of military doctrines that embody the permanence of nuclear weapons. They are incompatible with the peace we seek for the 21st century; they cannot be justified. These weapons are instruments of death and destruction."

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