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Pope Francis insists that we do not require nuclear weapons or the lose-lose policy of mutually-assured destruction to maintain world peace and security. There is a better way forward than holding threats of total annihilation over the heads of humanity.

An ailing Pope Francis has dusted off rumours about his potential resignation due to his health.

Speculation continued to circulate this week after the 85-year-old acknowledged his struggle with age-related health issues, some of which have resulted in surgery, and an overseas trip cancellation.

A New York Post article fuelled the speculation, which was later written off by the Vatican as “fake news.” Addressing a gathering of bishops from Brazil, Francis spoke about his health, reassuring them that “resigning hadn’t crossed his mind”.

Asked about his plans, Francis replied,

“I want to live my mission as long as God allows me and that’s it.”

The moderate, theologically progressive Latin-American pope doesn’t appear to be giving up his tenure any time soon. He was also active this week in poking international social consciousness over nuclear weapons.

Free from Fear

Addressing the First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Francis took to task the concept of mutually-assured destruction (MAD).

MAD is, Francis said, an inadequate way of keeping “collective security and peace”, asserting that “a world free from nuclear weapons is both necessary and possible.”

The Vatican boss gave the treaty’s President-designate Alexander Kmentt his full backing, recommitting the Catholic Church to “promoting peace between peoples and nations and fostering education for peace throughout its institutions.”

Pope Francis further argued that nuclear weapons “were a costly and dangerous liability”, only offering the “illusion of peace.”

He then damned the use and ownership of nuclear weapons, as “immoral,” stating,

“[The act of] trying to defend and ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security and a ‘balance of terror’, sustained by a mentality of fear and mistrust, inevitably ends up poisoning relationships between peoples and obstructing any possible form of real dialogue.”

“Existing disarmament treaties,” he explained, “were more than just legal obligations. They are also moral commitments based on trust between citizens and their governments.”

As such, these treaties have “ethical consequences for current and future generations of humanity.”

Remaining true to his push for the abolition of extinction-level weaponry, Pope Francis recalled remarks from his February protest against the war in Ukraine, exclaiming, “those who wage war… forget humanity!”

Deadly Developments

The Catholic Church leader’s comments are not devoid of context.

Three months into his war on Ukrainians, Russian President Vladimir Putin, escalating the prospect of a nuclear winter, “bragged” that his “Satan-2” (the NATO designation for Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat) heavy ICBMs, will be “put on combat duty by the end of 2022.”

Popular Mechanics rates the RS-28 as being capable of “delivering up to ten thermonuclear warheads anywhere on Earth.”

The existence of RS-28, and Putin’s threats to deploy them in combat, give weight to Pope Francis’ disarmament demands.

Likewise, Pope Francis’ demand for the abolition of nuclear weapons is relevant to Iran’s quest for weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Aside from Putin’s Eastern European powder keg, should Israel pre-emptively strike a weaponised nuclear facility in Iran, there is real potential for war in the Middle East.

It’s no secret that Israel is keeping the Biden administration at an arm’s length from its national security prerogatives. A likely reason for this is Team Biden/Obama’s face-saving attempts at a political resurrection of Barack Obama’s shady “Iran deal.”

Putin’s WMD sabre-rattling against Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, and others, is an example of what Israel, and the West, could expect from a nuclear-armed Iranian jihadist regime. A regime already on record for threatening to destroy Jews, supporters of Israel, and the nation of Israel itself.

Despite the hopes and assurances of the current Pope, it is unlikely that nuclear-armed nations are going to lay down their arms while the world is being threatened by the ambitions of militant authoritarians.

The WMD pale horse cannot be corralled after it has already bolted.

The answer to eye-for-an-eye mutually assured destruction is eye-to-eye conduct. If the West’s fraternal policy of “peace through strength” is abandoned for a policy of appeasement, with it goes the conditions for relationship and respect. The outcome would be a world inevitably thrown back into the “old world balance of power” Pope Francis decries.

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Photo: Paul Haring/CNS