Pope Francis prayed at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, Nov. 24, 2019. Photo: Vatican Media/CNA
August 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — attacks which devastated these cities causing up to 213,000 deaths by the end of 1945 and many more in the following years. The attacks inflicted excruciating pain and suffering on both humans and the environment.
The Sisters of Charity of New York, along with hundreds of other faith communities, signed a Joint Interfaith Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. We pray for a world free from the threat of nuclear harm to human life and all of creation.
We are grateful for the Global Hibakusha, survivors who have courageously borne witness, often in the face of intimidation and the recurring tragedy of loss and illness. We must meet the courage of the survivors with our own. We must abolish nuclear weapons forever.