Getting Out of the Cold War's Shadow

Spokesman Says It's Time for Trust, Nuclear Disarmament

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VATICAN CITY, OCT. 6, 2009 ( The Holy See is using its influence to make the world understand the Cold War and its attitudes are over: It's time to go beyond nuclear armament and begin to trust, says a Vatican spokesman.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, affirmed this when he reflected during the latest edition of Vatican Television's "Octava Dies" on a Holy See contribution at the United Nations.

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Vatican relations with states, addressed the U.N. security council on Sept. 24.

Father Lombardi reported on his intervention, affirming, "Nuclear dissuasion belongs to the Cold War era and is not justifiable in our days."

In his address, the archbishop encouraged disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, saying nuclear arms attack the planet itself.

Nevertheless, Father Lombardi observed, the non-proliferation treaty has not come into force because it lacks signatures from a certain number of states, "among which are powers with advanced nuclear capacity."

Archbishop Mamberti, however, affirmed that the treaty would be a clear answer to the risks of nuclear proliferation and the threat of nuclear terrorism, as well as an impetus to nuclear disarmament, the spokesman recounted.
In this context, Father Lombardi made the exhortation that the world move from "the climate of threat to a climate of trust."
"Only in this way can the promotion of peace and the development of peoples be guaranteed," he stressed.
Citing Benedict XVI, Father Lombardi pointed out that "integral disarmament" is an appeal made in the most recent encyclical to the international community and the United Nations, urging them to move in order to make "the concept of family of nations" a concrete reality.
"Where do we want to go?" asked the Vatican spokesman. "We all know the degree to which arms subtract strength and economic and intellectual resources from the commitment to development and the fight against hunger, and how much harm they do to the atmosphere of relationships between peoples."
"The Church," he affirmed, "will never tire of repeating this."