Vatican Supports International Treaty on Arms Trade
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 11, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See published a statement in support of a proposed resolution concerning the international control of the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons.
The document, signed by Cardinal Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the same dicastery, is published as the 1st Committee on Disarmament and International Security of the 61st U.N. General Assembly meets in New York.
“Weapons cannot be considered as any other good exchanged on the global regional or national market,” the statement says.
“Their possession, production and trade have deep ethical and social implications and they must be regulated by paying due attention to specific principles of the moral and legal order,” it adds.
The text recalls John Paul II’s appeal on the occasion of the 1999 World Day of Peace for appropriate measures to be adopted for “the control of conventional weapons at the global, regional and national level.”
The document continues: “The Holy See is convinced that such a convention can be an important step toward a true global culture of peace, in which states, civil society and the military industry cooperate, with responsibility and solidarity, for a more peaceful and secure world.”