Pope Francis said that it is “immoral” for nations to possess nuclear weapons as the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.
“It has never been clearer that, for peace to flourish, all people need to lay down the weapons of war, and especially the most powerful and destructive of weapons: nuclear arms that can cripple and destroy whole cities, whole countries,” Francis said in a Thursday message to organizers of the anniversary commemoration in Hiroshima.
“May the prophetic voices of the hibakusha survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continue to serve as a warning to us and for coming generations,” he added, according to ABC News. Hibakusha is a Japanese phrase for the survivors of the bombings.
The pope also noted that he prayed at the Hiroshima peace memorial and met with Hiroshima survivors in 2019 during a visit to Japan. He reiterated what he said while at the memorial last November.
“The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral,” Francis said. The remarks echoed his 2017 remarks when he said the possession of such weapons is “to be condemned.”
The 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought an end to World War II in the Pacific but killed more than 100,000 people.
