Archbishop Christophe El Kassis urged the international community to make eliminating nuclear weapons a priority for security and peace during a United Nations General Assembly discussion in New York on Monday, Oct. 19.

El Kassis spoke during the Thematic Discussion on Nuclear Weapons before the First Committee of the General Assembly’s 81st Session. He said nuclear weapons remain among the most serious dangers facing humanity, while nuclear arsenals are being modernized and expanded and nuclear rhetoric is growing more pronounced.

He also argued that nuclear deterrence worsens instability rather than strengthening international security. The integration of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies into nuclear systems, he said, introduces additional risks.

El Kassis called for effective, self-aware and responsible human control and judgment over those systems. He said only the complete elimination of nuclear weapons can provide a lasting answer to the dangers they pose.

The Holy See called on nuclear-armed states to meet their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It also expressed support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and appealed for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to enter into force.

Pope Leo XIV has said that peace depends not on competing power but on dialogue and justice. “Peace is not a balance of power; rather, it is built day by day through dialogue and justice,” the pope said.