The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force on 22 January 2021. Adopted on 7 July 2017, it outlaws the use, threat, possession and stationing of atomic weapons.
To mark the event, the world’s Catholic bishops issued a statement. It reads: “The worst of all weapons of mass destruction has long been deemed immoral. Now it is also finally illegal”. It is encouraging that the “majority of UN member states actively support the new treaty by adopting, signing, and ratifying it”; what is more, public opinion polls show that most people believe that nuclear weapons must be abolished.
Last Wednesday, Pope Francis also spoke about the entry into force of the Treaty, underlining that “This is the first legally binding international instrument explicitly prohibiting these weapons, whose use has an indiscriminate impact, strikes a large amount of people in a short time and causes long-lasting damage to the environment.”
For this reason, “I strongly encourage all States and all people to work decisively toward promoting conditions necessary for a world without nuclear weapons, contributing to the advancement of peace and to multilateral cooperation which humanity greatly needs today.”
Adopted by 122 member states of the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, the treaty was ratified by 50 signatories at the end of October 2020, which allowed it to enter into force 90 days after the 50th signature.
However, the signatures of existing nuclear powers –  United States, Russia, China, France, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – are missing. Japan, the only country struck by nuclear weapons, has refused to sign the treaty arguing that its effectiveness is doubtful without the participation of nuclear powers.
In a recent interview with Vatican News, Mgr Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, said: “On the one hand, we are concerned that the nuclear powers often seem to be turning away from nuclear multilateralism and the negotiating table, as evidenced by a certain erosion of the nuclear weapons architecture, highlighted by the abandonment of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the weakening of the Iranian JCPOA (Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action), the uncertainty of the future of the aforementioned START, and increasing military spending not only on maintenance but also on the modernization of nuclear arsenals.