Pope Leo on Wednesday called on the United States and Russia to extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty, warning that its expiration could trigger a dangerous escalation in global nuclear tensions.
Speaking during his weekly general audience at the Vatican, the pontiff appealed directly to leaders in Washington and Moscow to preserve the agreement, which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads held by the two countries.
Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the United States, said the current international climate demands urgent action to prevent a new cycle of weapons expansion.
“The world situation calls for doing everything possible to avert a new arms race,” he told the gathered faithful. “I issue an urgent appeal not to let this instrument lapse. It is more urgent than ever to replace the logic of fear and distrust with a shared ethic capable of guiding choices toward the common good.”
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The New START agreement, signed in 2010, is set to expire on Thursday unless extended or replaced. It caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems held by the United States and Russia, the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in September that Moscow would consider an informal one year extension of the treaty. As of Wednesday, however, there had been no public response from US President Donald Trump.
According to Reuters and the BBC, New START is the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow following the collapse of earlier agreements in recent years.
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If the treaty expires without replacement, it would bring to an end more than half a century of formal limits on the world’s largest nuclear arsenals, a development that arms control experts warn could increase mistrust and military competition.