Archbishop: Pope has been 'voice of reason' amid NKorea tension

(9 Nov 2017) Pope Francis is seeking to defuse rising nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula and boost support for disarmament efforts with a high-level Vatican conference that brings together 11 Nobel Peace prize winners, UN and NATO officials and a handful of nuclear-armed countries. The two-day conference, which opens on Friday, is the first major international gathering since 122 countries approved a new UN treaty in July calling for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The organiser of the conference, which is set to focus on the "Prospects for a World Free from Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament" is Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the UN. He said on Wednesday that Pope Francis had been "a voice of reason" who had called on nations to "build channels of communication and not walls." For some analysts, Francis' address on Friday will offer a welcome break in the heated war of words between President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, as Trump continues his maiden Asian voyage. But the Vatican hopes it will do more than that, and mark a turning point in shifting public opinion away from the Cold War-era idea that atomic weapons serve a purpose for deterrence and global security. None of the nuclear powers or NATO members signed up to the new UN treaty in July, arguing that its lofty ideals were unrealistic given today's nuclear-charged standoffs. But the treaty's cause has been boosted in the meantime by the Nobel committee, which this year awarded its annual peace prize to the advocacy group that was instrumental in getting the treaty approved, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN. ICAN's executive director, Beatrice Fihn, is one of the Nobel laureates who will address the conference on Friday. The Holy See has consistently opposed nuclear weapons and supported nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, and history's first Latin American pope has strongly backed that line. But Pope Francis brings to the table additional arguments based on his other papal priorities: that atomic weapons are a threat to the environment, that the costs of developing them could be put to far better use, and that the world would be a far safer place if dialogue prevailed over confrontation. One outcome the Vatican is ruling out, at least publicly, is that the conference could lead to some form of a mediation role. The Vatican under Francis has facilitated talks between the US and Cuba and, more recently, between the Venezuelan government and opposition. But it has denied it is interested in mediating the Korean standoff and has suggested that others, such as Norway, could play that role. The United States will be represented at the conference by its deputy ambassador to the Holy See since Ambassador Calista Gingrich hasn't presented her credentials yet and can't participate in official Vatican events. Russia is sending a top nuclear expert, and NATO's Deputy Secretary- General, Rose Gottemoeller, will address the conference. China and North Korea have been invited to attend, but organisers said they didn't know if anyone would show. Neither country has diplomatic relations with the Holy See. Tomasi, though, says the message the conference wants to send to both Washington and Pyongyang is clear: that the only way forward is dialogue, without "excessive aggression" in rhetoric. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...