During his annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, Pope Francis offered the aforementioned remarks.
On Monday, Pope Francis described wars like the one currently taking place in Ukraine, in which civilian areas are being targeted for what he referred to as “indiscriminate destruction,” as “a crime against God and humanity.”
In his annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, during which he provides an overview of the state of the world in what has become unofficially known as his “state of the world” address, Francis delivered the remarks that are in question.
Pope Francis made a statement in which he referred to “the war in Ukraine, with its wake of death and ruin, with its attacks on civil infrastructures that cause lives to be lost not only through gunshot and acts of murder but also from hunger and severe cold.”
The next thing he did was quickly quote a section from a Vatican document, which stated that “any act of war dedicated to the indiscriminate destruction of whole towns or broad territories with their populations is a crime against God and mankind that requires harsh and unequivocal condemnation.”
He made this statement in reference to the Cuban missile crisis that occurred in 1962: “Unfortunately, today too, the nuclear threat is elevated, and the world once again feels fear and pain.”
He reiterated his call for a complete prohibition on the use of nuclear weapons, claiming that even possessing them for the purpose of deterrence is “immoral.”