Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the targets of the first atomic bombings in August 1945. The bombings from U.S. aircraft helped end the Second World War. The attacks caused an estimated 214,000 combined deaths immediately and tens of thousands more died from radiation exposure, according to BBC News.
The American and Japanese bishops’ letter, citing their different histories, said: “We are compelled to speak out.” They noted the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has raised fears of a nuclear exchange.
“Rather than viewing the war in Ukraine as an overwhelming impediment toward making substantial progress, we view it instead as a clear demonstration of the absolute need to do so,” the bishops said.
Hiroshima hosts the 49th G7 summit May 19 to May 21. The event brings together leaders from the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. to discuss matters of global importance. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major issue at the meeting.
The four bishops urged G7 leaders “to undertake concrete steps toward global, verifiable nuclear disarmament.” They deemed the current nuclear arms race to be “more dangerous than the first.” They cited “multiple nuclear actors and the advent of new cyber and hypersonic weapons and artificial intelligence.”
“Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara asserted that humanity survived the Cuban Missile Crisis only by luck. Luck is not sufficient to ensure the continuing survival of the human race,” their letter said.
