A Blast from the Bishops

America's Roman Catholic leadership denounces nuclear weapons

The detailed document marshals moral principles and strategic arguments in a counterstrike at the heart of U.S. military doctrine. Noting that NATO strategy threatens a first use of tactical nuclear weapons if the Soviet Union invades Central Europe, it proclaims, "We do not perceive any situation in which the deliberate initiation of nuclear warfare, on however restricted a scale, can be morally justified." Speaking to those who work in nuclear arms factories, it instructs, "We have judged immoral even the threat to use such weapons." Ethical...