The Supreme Pontiff expressed in his note, published by the Holy See Press Office that the United States attack on that city on August 6, 1945, as well as the one carried out on Nagasaki three days later, are “a living reminder of the profound horrors caused by nuclear weapons.”

In that letter, addressed to the Bishop of Hiroshima, Monsignor Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama, the Holy Father expressed his “respect and affection for the hibakusha survivors, whose stories of loss and suffering call us all to build a safer world and promote a climate of peace.”

The streets, schools, and homes of these cities “still bear the scars, both visible and spiritual, of that fateful August of 1945, and in this context, I hasten to reiterate the words so often used by my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, that war is always a defeat for humanity,” he reaffirmed.

“In our time of growing global tensions and conflicts, Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand as symbols of memory,” he said, remembering Francis’s remarks on this matter on May 19, 2023, while emphasizing that “true peace demands the courageous surrender of weapons, especially those with the power to cause unspeakable catastrophe.”

“Nuclear weapons offend our shared humanity and also betray the dignity of creation, whose harmony we are called to safeguard,” he added, urging “rejection of the illusion of security based on mutually assured destruction.”

The Bishop of Rome expressed that “instead, we must forge a global ethic rooted in justice, fraternity, and the common good” and issued a new call to the international community “to renew its commitment to the pursuit of lasting peace for the entire human family.”

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