'Promoting synodality': US and Japanese bishops call for end to nuclear weapons

The ruins of Nagasaki Cathedral after the destruction of the city by a nuclear bomb on 9 August 1945. Getty Images

78 YEARS AFTER the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, on 9 August 1945, a group of Japanese and US Catholic bishops announced a new initiative to promote the realization of a world without nuclear weapons, focusing on past acts, the present reality, and building a culture of peace.

“We, the bishops of four Catholic arch/dioceses in areas impacted by nuclear weapons, declare that we will begin working together to achieve a ‘world without nuclear weapons,’” said the bishops. “We urge that concrete progress be made by August 2025, the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings.”