Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher has called on governments to renounce their nuclear weapons as he marked the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Speaking on September 15 at the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the archbishop said that the use of nuclear technology was “inseparable from the commitments and responsibilities that accompany it.”
At the conference in Vienna, he noted the role served by nuclear technology in meeting increasing energy demands, as well as describing it as an example of how scientific progress could be utilised to benefit humanity. However, he also emphasised the responsibility that accompanied the use of nuclear technology, namely that it does not develop into the acquisition of nuclear weapons, Vatican News reported.
