With ‘Oppenheimer’ in Theaters, Two U.S. Archbishops Embark on a ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ Ahead of Atom Bomb Anniversaries
Two U.S. archbishops whose dioceses include nuclear weapons facilities are planning to meet with two bishops in Japan whose dioceses include the sites of the atomic bombings that led to the end of World War II.
“In 1945, sadly, our connection was through war and bombs,” Archbishop John Wester, who leads the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which includes northern and central New Mexico, told the Register. “But we want our connection to be through the light of Christ and peace building.”
The 78th anniversaries of the only uses to date of such weapons has particular traction this year, because of the release of the blockbuster movie Oppenheimer recounting the story of the Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bombs that were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Also currently focusing additional attention on the issue of nuclear weapons are the repeated warnings by Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials that Western support for Ukraine in its war with Russia risks the retaliatory use of Russian nuclear weapons.
Archbishop Wester said he wants multilateral nuclear disarmament — meaning that the countries of the world that have nuclear weapons agree to give them up at about the same time.
He noted that Pope Francis in November 2017 condemned not only using nuclear weapons but even having them. The Pope, calling to mind “the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental effects” nuclear weapons could have if they were detonated either on purpose or by accident, said “the threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned.”
The archbishop agrees.
“The reality is that these weapons are too powerful and they’re too dangerous for human beings to control. Providentially, it’s only with luck and I would say with God’s grace that we’ve avoided catastrophe. That’s not in my mind a reasonable and valid and a prudent way to defend ourselves. The clock’s ticking, and we’ve got to get rid of them,” Archbishop Wester said in a telephone interview.
Archbishop Wester and Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle are scheduled to travel to Japan next week for meetings in Hiroshima, site of the first atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki, site of the second (and so far last) atomic bombing on Aug. 9, 1945.
Their hosts are Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Hiroshima and Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki.
