Pope: possessing nuclear weapons ‘irrational’

Pope Francis speaks during a news conference on board of a plane on December 2, 2017, during a flight back from a seven-day trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh. Pope Francis wrapped up a high-stakes Asia tour on December 2 after meeting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in a highly symbolic gesture of solidarity with the Muslim minority fleeing violence in Myanmar. AFP

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis says the Cold War-era policy of nuclear deterrence is no longer viable and that the mere possession of nuclear weapons is now “irrational.”

Flying through Asia en route home from Bangladesh Saturday, Francis said: “We’re at the limit of licitly having and using nuclear arms. Why? Because today, such sophisticated nuclear arsenals risk destroying humanity or at least a great part of it.”

Amid increasingly heated rhetoric between the U.S. and North Korea, Francis told a nuclear disarmament conference last month that mere possession of nuclear weapons was to be condemned, given the risks, and that the only viable path forward was total disarmament.

Francis said he wanted to pose the question as a pope: “Today, is it legitimate to keep nuclear arsenals as they are? Or to save creation, to save humanity today, isn’t it necessary to go back?” /cbb