Humankind is again confronted with a grave threat, arising from armed conflicts and the acute war that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine. The possibility of nuclear war has been raised by the aggressors.
Pope Francis has made known his concern about this “terrible, inhuman, sacrilegious and senseless” war that could potentially escalate beyond the terrible level it already has reached and pose nuclear risks.[1]
There is the increasing danger that many other countries and terrorist groups may acquire nuclear weapons or develop the capability to produce them. The acute risks relate in particular to
- intentional or unintentional destructions of nuclear power plants with grave consequences for large populations,
- uncontrolled leakage of nuclear waste that can be used for so-called dirty bombs,
- the potential use of so-called tactical nuclear weapons in battlefields, for instance in the Ukraine,
- keeping nuclear weapons on high alert, potentially increasing the likelihood of a nuclear weapons launch accidentally or as a result of cyber manipulation.
- the use of powerful nuclear weapons and other weapons internationally beyond Ukraine when war further escalates.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has comprehensively addressed the risk of nuclear war, for instance with an important “DECLARATION ON PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR” by an assembly of Presidents of scientific academies and other scientists from all over the world convened by the PAS on September 23-24, 1982. This concept note partly draws on that declaration, which has become very relevant again.[2] Yet, the world situation has changed and even deteriorated in various ways.
Mistrust and suspicion between nations have grown. There is a breakdown of serious dialogue between nations in the East and West and between North and South and, in particular, between the biggest and most powerful nations of USA, China, EU, and Russia.
Serious inequities among nations and within nations, shortsighted national or partisan
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