SEATTLE—Wednesday, January 21, 2026—
The Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons released a statement in recognition of the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons:
We hope for its further expansion through additional ratifications, now that a
majority of the world’s countries have signed the Treaty. In July 2017, the
Vatican was the first nation-state to sign and ratify the Treaty as part of its
“unwavering commitment to the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”
We condemn the fact that the nuclear weapons powers have never honored their
long-held obligations under the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty to enter serious
negotiations leading to global nuclear disarmament.
In contrast, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was a great step
toward the light of peace. The nuclear-armed states have a moral obligation to
hear the voices of the majority of the world, and to listen to those who face the
threat of annihilation due to the reckless decisions of any one of their nine leaders.
Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling over Ukraine makes this clear, while ongoing
crises in the Middle East further escalate the risks. Meanwhile, the nuclear
weapons powers are engaged in massive “modernization” programs, designed to
keep nuclear weapons forever.
The international legal force of the nuclear weapons ban treaty is limited to those
states that have formally ratified it. But its moral power does not recognize
boundaries between nations, nor lines on a map. The moral power of this Treaty is
global and universal. We hope and pray that it will exert moral pressure on the
nuclear weapons states to finally honor their disarmament obligations under the
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
On the fifth anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, we
specifically call upon world leaders to demonstrate measurable progress toward
nuclear disarmament. Eight decades of nuclear threats are far too long, as
evidenced by the horrors documented by the atomic bombing museums in Japan.
It is long past time for the nuclear weapons powers to begin to make tangible
progress toward that end.
As our close colleague Robert McElroy, Cardinal of Washington, DC, declared
last August in Hiroshima on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing:
“We refuse to live in a world of nuclear proliferation and risk-taking. We will
resist, we will organize, we will pray, we will not cease, until the world’s nuclear
arsenals have been destroyed.”
Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, USA
Most Reverend Paul D. Etienne, Archbishop of Seattle, USA
Most Reverend Peter Michiaki Nakamura, Archbishop of Nagasaki, Japan
Most Reverend Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama, Bishop of Hiroshima, Japan
Most Reverend Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, Archbishop Emeritus of Nagasaki, Japan
The Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons comprises the dioceses of Santa
Fe, NM; Seattle, WA; Hiroshima, Japan; Nagasaki, Japan; and others. For more
information, visit pwnw.org/ewp/purpose/
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