US Bishops call expiration of New START Treaty ‘unacceptable'

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

“The dangers posed by current conflicts around the world, including the devastating war in Ukraine, make the forthcoming expiration of New START simply unacceptable," warned Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement released on Tuesday.

Ahead of the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on February 5, the last major nuclear arms control pact signed by the United States and Russia, Archbishop Coakley insisted, "I call on people of faith and all men and women of good will to ardently pray that we, as an international community, may develop the courage to pursue an authentic, transformative, and lasting peace."

He recalled that when Pope Leo XIV addressed the Diplomatic Corps in January, the Pope specified the importance of renewing the pact, saying that there is a "need to follow-up on the New START Treaty," and warning that "there is a danger of returning to the race of producing ever more sophisticated new weapons, also by means of artificial intelligence."

The USCCB President also noted that the Pope, more broadly, in his message for the World Day of Peace, cited St. John XXIII’s call for "integral disarmament" that includes adopting a mindset which realizes that "true and lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments but only in mutual trust."

Ahead of this reality, Archbishop Coakley called upon policymakers "to courageously pursue diplomatic negotiations to maintain New START’s limits, opening pathways toward disarmament. International policy disagreements, as serious as they are, cannot be used as excuses for diplomatic stalemates."

"On the contrary," he appealed, "they should spur us on to more vehemently pursue effective engagement and dialogue."

Finally, the leader of the USCCB concluded by praying that the Prince of Peace may "enlighten our hearts and minds to pursue peace around the world in a spirit of universal fraternity.”