What does the Catholic Church have to say about the Bomb? It is important to distinguish between the Church’s support of specific policies and her guidance on matters of faith. The Church speaks with authority on issues of faith and personal morality, while offering suggestions and advice on public policy. The Church does not tell Catholics how to vote.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the “legitimate defense by military force” requires that action taken be a last resort, in response to “lasting, grave, and certain” damage by an aggressor with “serious prospects of success.” Even so, the use of force must not “produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.” While the Catechism does not go into specifics on the morality of nuclear weapons, pastoral letters and statements by popes have.
The key document in Church history on nuclear weapons is a 64-page pastoral letter by the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops issued in 1983, when U.S.-Soviet relations were roiled and nuclear negotiations broken off. It remains the most detailed and thorough authoritative text from the Church on this issue. Addressing American and NATO policies by name, the bishops posit that first use is never morally justifiable:
We do not perceive any situation in which the deliberate initiation of nuclear warfare, on however restricted a scale, can be morally justified. Non-nuclear attacks by another state must be resisted by other than nuclear means.
Further, the Church has been skeptical of how subsequent use or excursions related to “limited” nuclear war could fit with “just-war” requirements that there be “a reasonable hope of success in bringing about justice and peace”:
We must ask whether such a reasonable hope can exist once nuclear weapons have been exchanged…and we hope that leaders will resist the notion that nuclear conflict can be limited, contained or won in any traditional sense.
Notably, the pastoral letter included a “strictly conditional moral acceptance of deterrence” emphasizing that it cannot be “a long-term basis for peace”:
Although we acknowledge the need for deterrence…There are moral limits to deterrence policy as well as to policy regarding use. Specifically, it is not morally acceptable to intend to kill the innocent as part of a strategy for deterring nuclear war.
Detailing their limited definition of the moral acceptability of nuclear deterrence, the bishops challenged US war-fighting strategies at a basic level:
If nuclear deterrence exists only to prevent the use of nuclear weapons by others, then proposals to go beyond this to planning for prolonged periods of repeated nuclear strikes and counterstrikes, or “prevailing” in nuclear war, are not acceptable. They encourage notions that nuclear war can be engaged in with tolerable human and moral consequences. Rather, we must continually say “no” to the idea of nuclear war.
Additionally, the letter calls for “immediate, bilateral verifiable agreements to halt the testing, production and deployment of new nuclear weapons systems.”
During and following the Cold War, Pope Saint John Paul II and his representatives spoke out many times against nuclear weapons and the dangers of nuclear deterrence security frameworks. The 1983 bishops’ letter relies upon that guidance, frequently quoting the Holy Father:
Pope John Paul II judges that deterrence may still be judged morally acceptable, “certainly not as an end in itself but as a step on the way toward a progressive disarmament….
“The logic of nuclear deterrence cannot be considered a final goal or an appropriate and secure means for safeguarding international peace.”
In a follow-up letter by the US Council of Bishops in 1998, they revised their previous emphasis on the limited value of nuclear weapons for deterrence purposes:
For the past fifteen years, and particularly in the context of the Cold War, we…have reluctantly acknowledged the possibility that nuclear weapons could have some moral legitimacy, but only if the goal was nuclear disarmament. It is our present, prayerful judgment that this legitimacy is now lacking.
The bishops’ 1998 letter also quotes John Paul II’s revised emphasis in a statement by his United Nations representative:
In clinging to their outmoded rationales for nuclear deterrence [NWS] are denying the most ardent aspirations of humanity… Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the peace we seek for the 21st century. They cannot be justified. They deserve condemnation. The preservation of the Nonproliferation Treaty demands an unequivocal commitment to their abolition.
Since Francis became Pope in 2013, the Church has shown renewed vigor in her advocacy for nuclear disarmament. Last month, his statement to the UN General Assembly affirmed that,
An ethics and a law based on the threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind – are self-contradictory and an affront to the entire framework of the United Nations, which would end up as “nations united by fear and distrust”. There is urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, in full application of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.
In 2014, at the Third International Conference on the Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Pope Francis’s statement, including this passage, was read to the assembled delegates:
Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states.
In addition to this statement, the Vatican released a landmark study document suggests that the bomb is profoundly destabilizing as well as immoral:
Rather than providing security, as the defenders of nuclear deterrence contend, reliance on a strategy of nuclear deterrence has created a less secure world. In a multi-polar world, the concept of nuclear deterrence works less as a stabilizing force and more as an incentive for countries to break out of the non-proliferation regime and develop nuclear arsenals on their own.
Reliance on nuclear deterrence, then, in the view of the Catholic Church, is impeding disarmament. Further, the study document posits, “the non-proliferation regime is rooted in inequality” and the NPT’s “grand bargain” is failing due to NWS not upholding their half of the deal, calling into question the entire legitimacy of the global system. Failure at the 2015 NPT Review Conference to achieve consensus on a final text supports this assessment of a weakened global nuclear order.
The Church’s discussion of the value of nuclear weapons for deterrence has evolved at a time when the United States, Russia, China, India and Pakistan nuclear are engaged in significant strategic modernization programs. The contradictions between the Church’s teachings and the pursuit of more sophisticated means to deliver nuclear weapons will only grow in the years ahead. The Church’s calls for total disarmament will continue, beginning with Francis’s World Peace Day address on January 1st and another address a few weeks later to the Vatican diplomatic corps.
This piece originally appeared as a guest post for Michael Krepon’s column on Arms Control Wonk.
The Catholic Church and the Bomb
By Hannah Haegeland
In South Asia
What does the Catholic Church have to say about the Bomb? It is important to distinguish between the Church’s support of specific policies and her guidance on matters of faith. The Church speaks with authority on issues of faith and personal morality, while offering suggestions and advice on public policy. The Church does not tell Catholics how to vote.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the “legitimate defense by military force” requires that action taken be a last resort, in response to “lasting, grave, and certain” damage by an aggressor with “serious prospects of success.” Even so, the use of force must not “produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.” While the Catechism does not go into specifics on the morality of nuclear weapons, pastoral letters and statements by popes have.
The key document in Church history on nuclear weapons is a 64-page pastoral letter by the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops issued in 1983, when U.S.-Soviet relations were roiled and nuclear negotiations broken off. It remains the most detailed and thorough authoritative text from the Church on this issue. Addressing American and NATO policies by name, the bishops posit that first use is never morally justifiable:
We do not perceive any situation in which the deliberate initiation of nuclear warfare, on however restricted a scale, can be morally justified. Non-nuclear attacks by another state must be resisted by other than nuclear means.
Further, the Church has been skeptical of how subsequent use or excursions related to “limited” nuclear war could fit with “just-war” requirements that there be “a reasonable hope of success in bringing about justice and peace”:
We must ask whether such a reasonable hope can exist once nuclear weapons have been exchanged…and we hope that leaders will resist the notion that nuclear conflict can be limited, contained or won in any traditional sense.
Notably, the pastoral letter included a “strictly conditional moral acceptance of deterrence” emphasizing that it cannot be “a long-term basis for peace”:
Although we acknowledge the need for deterrence…There are moral limits to deterrence policy as well as to policy regarding use. Specifically, it is not morally acceptable to intend to kill the innocent as part of a strategy for deterring nuclear war.
Detailing their limited definition of the moral acceptability of nuclear deterrence, the bishops challenged US war-fighting strategies at a basic level:
If nuclear deterrence exists only to prevent the use of nuclear weapons by others, then proposals to go beyond this to planning for prolonged periods of repeated nuclear strikes and counterstrikes, or “prevailing” in nuclear war, are not acceptable. They encourage notions that nuclear war can be engaged in with tolerable human and moral consequences. Rather, we must continually say “no” to the idea of nuclear war.
Additionally, the letter calls for “immediate, bilateral verifiable agreements to halt the testing, production and deployment of new nuclear weapons systems.”
During and following the Cold War, Pope Saint John Paul II and his representatives spoke out many times against nuclear weapons and the dangers of nuclear deterrence security frameworks. The 1983 bishops’ letter relies upon that guidance, frequently quoting the Holy Father:
Pope John Paul II judges that deterrence may still be judged morally acceptable, “certainly not as an end in itself but as a step on the way toward a progressive disarmament….
“The logic of nuclear deterrence cannot be considered a final goal or an appropriate and secure means for safeguarding international peace.”
In a follow-up letter by the US Council of Bishops in 1998, they revised their previous emphasis on the limited value of nuclear weapons for deterrence purposes:
For the past fifteen years, and particularly in the context of the Cold War, we…have reluctantly acknowledged the possibility that nuclear weapons could have some moral legitimacy, but only if the goal was nuclear disarmament. It is our present, prayerful judgment that this legitimacy is now lacking.
The bishops’ 1998 letter also quotes John Paul II’s revised emphasis in a statement by his United Nations representative:
In clinging to their outmoded rationales for nuclear deterrence [NWS] are denying the most ardent aspirations of humanity… Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the peace we seek for the 21st century. They cannot be justified. They deserve condemnation. The preservation of the Nonproliferation Treaty demands an unequivocal commitment to their abolition.
Since Francis became Pope in 2013, the Church has shown renewed vigor in her advocacy for nuclear disarmament. Last month, his statement to the UN General Assembly affirmed that,
An ethics and a law based on the threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind – are self-contradictory and an affront to the entire framework of the United Nations, which would end up as “nations united by fear and distrust”. There is urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, in full application of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.
In 2014, at the Third International Conference on the Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Pope Francis’s statement, including this passage, was read to the assembled delegates:
Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states.
In addition to this statement, the Vatican released a landmark study document suggests that the bomb is profoundly destabilizing as well as immoral:
Rather than providing security, as the defenders of nuclear deterrence contend, reliance on a strategy of nuclear deterrence has created a less secure world. In a multi-polar world, the concept of nuclear deterrence works less as a stabilizing force and more as an incentive for countries to break out of the non-proliferation regime and develop nuclear arsenals on their own.
Reliance on nuclear deterrence, then, in the view of the Catholic Church, is impeding disarmament. Further, the study document posits, “the non-proliferation regime is rooted in inequality” and the NPT’s “grand bargain” is failing due to NWS not upholding their half of the deal, calling into question the entire legitimacy of the global system. Failure at the 2015 NPT Review Conference to achieve consensus on a final text supports this assessment of a weakened global nuclear order.
The Church’s discussion of the value of nuclear weapons for deterrence has evolved at a time when the United States, Russia, China, India and Pakistan nuclear are engaged in significant strategic modernization programs. The contradictions between the Church’s teachings and the pursuit of more sophisticated means to deliver nuclear weapons will only grow in the years ahead. The Church’s calls for total disarmament will continue, beginning with Francis’s World Peace Day address on January 1st and another address a few weeks later to the Vatican diplomatic corps.
This piece originally appeared as a guest post for Michael Krepon’s column on Arms Control Wonk.