Catholic bishops in Japan have urged the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, reminding the world of the deadly experiences of survivors of atomic bombings in their nation. Source: UCA News.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan declared its “strong commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons” in a statement published on the bishops’ conference website on June 20.
The bishops said that their “strong commitment” to the abolition of nuclear weapons stems from the fact that they are the “only bishops from a country to have suffered atomic bombings in war.”
The statement, dated June 17, emphasised that they “carry deeply engraved in [their] hearts the heavy history and pain that atomic bomb survivors and citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have suffered.”
The bishops issued the statement as Japan marked the end of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The atomic bomb that detonated over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, caused an estimated 140,000 deaths, while three days later, on August 9, another atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.
The effects of the atomic bomb blast on the survivors lasted for decades and spanned across generations, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
It noted that the incidence of leukemia increased noticeably among survivors five to six years after the bombing.
The survivors began suffering from thyroid and breast, lung, and other cancers at higher-than-normal rates about a decade later, ICAN said.
“Many people still live with the suffering and after-effects of the bombings. This tragedy must not be repeated,” the bishops said.
They emphasized that the existence of nuclear weapons is a serious threat to all life.
Nuclear weapons degrade the dignity of “human beings and the world that God created to be very good,” they warned.
The bishops pointed out that the damage caused by the post-atomic bombing fallout and the widespread environmental destruction caused by nuclear explosions has “an enormous negative impact on global ecosystems.”
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Japan’s Catholic bishops urge global nuclear disarmament (UCA News)
