U.S. veterans, professors, clergy, writers and peace activists ask Catholic Archbishop John Wester to forward their appeal for emergency diplomacy to stop nuclear war to Pope Leo XIV at Hiroshima 81.
The U.S. explosion of a nuclear bomb over Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. (US Government Photo)
July 24, 2026
Most Reverend John C. Wester, D.D.
Pastoral Center Office
Archdiocese of Santa Fe
4000 St. Joseph’s Place N.W.
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87120-1714
Dear Archbishop Wester:
Congratulations on being named Pax Christi U.S.A.’s Teacher of Peace for 2026! It is such a well-deserved honor. Ever since your first trip to Japan and your pastoral letter, Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation toward Nuclear Disarmament, you have become a leading voice for the abolition of nuclear weapons in the Catholic Church and throughout the U.S. Establishing the “Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons” has extended that reach even farther. We are so pleased that you will be receiving this award in the coming months.
As you know, the threat of nuclear war seems to be increasing daily despite the 100 nations that have signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (T.P.N.W.), 75 of whom have also ratified it. This year’s N.P.T. Review Conference was a disappointment once again. New START was allowed to expire.
Russia, the U.S., and Israel, all nuclear states, are at war. Finland’s president recently signed legislation to allow the import and transit of nuclear weapons. And Lithuanian leaders are said to have agreed to amend the constitution to allow Lithuania to host nuclear weapons in the future.
In short, we are getting as close to nuclear war as we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. That crisis ended with diplomacy that saved the planet, and Pope John XXIII was a key figure in making that happen. His influential role is not well known, but it was he who spoke out to set the needed moral tone that helped each side to act for peace.
This is how it developed: In fall 1962, journalist Norman Cousins convened in Andover, Massachusetts, an informal discussion group of Soviet and American academicians. Providentially, they met on October 22, the evening President Kennedy addressed the nation on the Soviet nuclear missile threat in Cuba and ordered the Navy to intercept any additional shipments.
Included among those invited by Cousins was a Vatican adviser to Pope John XXIII, Rev. Felix Morlion. He asked if a papal intervention might help defuse the situation. Cousins phoned the White House; a Soviet member of the informal group phoned Moscow. Both got a nihil obstat. Father Morlion notified the Vatican.
President John F. Kennedy with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961. (National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain)
On October 25, Vatican Radio broadcast a strong appeal by Pope John for peace to world leaders, in particular Kennedy and Khrushchev. It stated in part:
“With your hand on your conscience may each one hear the anguished cry which is raised to the skies from all parts of the earth: Peace, peace! We renew this solemn plea today.”
Pravda immediately printed the Pope’s message with a banner headline. And on October 28, when Khrushchev announced the pull-out of the missiles from Cuba, Pravda reprinted the Pope’s message, praising the Pope’s “realism on the question of peace.” In turn, the United States withdrew missiles from Turkey.
In December of 1962, Khrushchev told Cousins how much he admired Pope John, saying:
“During that week of the Cuban missile crisis, the Pope’s appeal was a real ray of light. I was grateful for it.”
Hundreds of millions gave a sigh of relief, and negotiations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. led to the first nuclear test ban in 1963.
Several years after that, Khrushchev’s son Sergey said that the words of Pope John XXIII were strongly persuasive on the consciences of people, especially those of his father and Kennedy.
With this in mind, we were thinking it might be time for something similar to happen today. Might Pope Leo XIV call for a Peace Conference to withdraw nuclear weapons from the Russian border and call for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide?
Pope John XXIII signing the encyclical Pacem in Terris, 1963, several months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Luigi Felici, Wikipedia, Public Domain)
He already suggested something along these lines at the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when he prayed that the bombings would,
“serve as a call to the international community to renew its commitment to pursuing lasting peace for our whole human family — ‘a peace that is unarmed and disarming.’ ”
Perhaps the Vatican or another neutral location such as Vienna or Geneva could be the venue.
Would you be able to help bring this recommendation to Pope Leo?
We believe you, as a strong and highly-respected advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons, would be the ideal diplomat to encourage Pope Leo to bring Putin, Trump, and Xi Jinping together to plan an end to nuclear weapons and to pave a new road of economic conversion from a war economy to economic development for all people everywhere.
Your intercession and the strong leadership of Pope Leo could move us away from the sheer madness we are now experiencing.
Sincerely,
Jack Gilroy, Pax Christi New York State Council; Veterans For Peace; Ban Killer Drones; International Peace Coalition of the Schiller Institute
In collaboration with The Pax Christi New York State (P.C.N.Y.S.) Council,
John Amidon, Ben Salmon Chapter Pax Christi Upstate New York; Veteran for Peace; Co-Founder Kateri Peace Conference
Tom Casey, Pax Christi Western New York
Pierre Fidelia, Pax Christi Metro New York Board President
Bob Keeler, Pax Christi Long Island
Ed Kubik, Pax Christi Long Island
Mary Beth Moore, SC, Pax Christi Long Island
Mark Scibilia-Carver, Ben Salmon Chapter Pax Christi Upstate New York
With contributions from:
Marie Dennis, Pax Christi U.S.A. (P.C.U.S.A.) Teacher of Peace 2022, Ambassador of Peace, & Senior Program Director of Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative
Jim Douglass, P.C.U.S.A. Teacher of Peace 1994, author
Raymond McGovern, Former C.I.A. Analyst, Current Peace Activist
Rosemarie Pace, Ed.D., P.C.N.Y.S. Coordinator; PC Queens; P.C.U.S.A. Palestine Solidarity Working Group; PC International Sudan Working Group
And endorsed by the following:
Jim Albertini, P.C.U.S.A. Teacher of Peace, 2010
Missy Androu, St. Anthony Church Solidarity Community
Syed Azhar, National Director, Pakistan American Democratic Forum
Karen Ball, Board Member Pax Christi Texas, San Antonio Chapter
Roger C. Barnes, Professor Emeritus, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX
Carolyn Bentley, Pax Christi Dallas, TX & Dallas, TX Peace and Justice Center
Kathy Boylan, Catholic Worker Washington, DC
Fr. Roy Bourgeois, P.C.U.S.A. Teacher of Peace 1997
Meg Bowerman, Pax Christi Northern California
Right Reverend John Bryson Chane D.D., 8th Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C.
Fr. Harry Bury, Twin Cities Nonviolent, Author. Member of U.S. Catholic Priests Association
Anne M. Chipchase, MA, Pax Christi Hawai’i
Fr. Daniel Clayton, Priest of the Diocese of Dallas, TX
Catherine Clubb Foley, Pax Christi Houston, TX Member
James C. Cobey, Founder Health Volunteers Overseas; Steering Committee, Voices From the Holy Land; Shared 1997 Nobel Peace Prize as part of work with Physicians for Humanity
Jay Coghlan, Executive Director, Nuclear Watch New Mexico
Phyllis Cunningham, Pax Christi Metro New York
Bob Cushing, A Founding Father of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests
Dr. Thomas Clough Daffern, Director, International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy
Fr. Fred Daley, Pastor, All Saints Parish, Syracuse, NY
Arthur Dawes, Pax Christi Texas Board President & Pax Christi San Antonio Member
Fr. John Dear, “The Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus” & “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast”
Pat Delgado, Pax Christi El Paso Coordinator & Pax Christi Texas Board Member
Sylvia Demarest, Retired Lawyer and Substack writer
Alyce Dodge, Peace Educator, Honolulu, Hawaii
Joan Dolan, Pax Christi Texas.
Rev. David Gerlich, Honolulu, Hawaii, author of Jesus Christ, He Still Matters
Jim Grant, St. Paul Catholic Newman Center, Fresno, CA
Joseph Fahey, Co-founder & Former General Secretary of P.C.U.S.A.
Professor Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University; Former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Palestinian Territories; Vice President Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Mike Ferner, Former national president, Veterans For Peace
Jill Frasier, Pax Christi Metro New York Board Member
Sr. Carol Gilbert, OP, Plowshares Activist
Myrna Gordon, North Country Peace Group member
Moira Govan, Just Peace Coalition, U.K.; Catholics for Palestine
Clare Grady, Plowshares Activist
Joyce Hall, Pax Christi Dallas, TX, Coordinator & Member of the Pax Christi TX Board
Rick Halperin, Director, Southern Methodist University Human Rights program
Jovita, Harrah, Pax Christi Northern California
Leslie Harris, CODEPINK; Veterans For Peace; Dallas Peace and Justice Center
Fr. John Heagle, Director of Priests Against Genocide
Ira Helfand, Former President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; Co-founder Back from the Brink
Vic Hummert, Former Maryknoll Priest and Author
Wally Ingle, Pax Christi Hawaii
Hadi Jawad, Human Rights Dallas, TX
Frank Kartheiser, Catholic Workers Movement
Tarak Kauff, New York Member of Veterans For Peace; Editor: Peace & Planet News
Kathy Kelly, P.C.U.S.A. Teacher of Peace 1998
Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D., University of the Incarnate Word
Meg Ksander, Pastoral Associate, All Saints Parish, Syracuse, NY
Dennis Kucinich, Former Mayor of Cleveland and U.S. Representative from Ohio
Jonathan Kuttab, Executive Director, Friends of Sabeel North America
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History and Director of Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, Washington, D.C.
Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, P.C.U.S.A. Teacher of Peace 2016
Nydia Leaf, Pax Christi Metro New York Member
Robin Leong, Facilitator, Pax Christi Hawaii Chapter
Margaret Melkonian, The Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
Claudia Morgan, Pax Christi Texas Board
Nick Mottern, Coordinator Ban Killer Drones and the Weaponized Drone Ban Treaty Campaign
Muslim Democratic Caucus, c/o President Amir Rahmam
Dr. Ivana Nikolic Hughes, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Chemistry at Columbia University
John O’Donnell
Nancy Oetter, Regional Coordinator, Pax Christi Illinois
Johanna Parkinson, Dallas Area Interfaith, Ret. Marketing Exec.
Mary Ellen Pantaleo, South Country Peace Group
Pax Christi Little Rock, AR
Pax Christi Metro New York Board
Pax Christi Queens—Anne Bjornson, Mary & Gene Doyle, Anna Hurtubise, Dolores Schmitt, Bernadette Skuse, John Tweedy
Lorin Peters, Pax Christi Moderator of the Northern California Chapter, Pax Christi U.S. Disarmament Working Group
Bill Quigley Pax Christi U.S.A. Teacher of Peace; Emeritus Professor of Law Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana
Judith Robinson, Retired Russian Desk Officer for U.S.AID, Dept. of Commerce BISNIS Unit, & State Department Education & Transportation U.S.A.
Jean Ross, Vote Climate Board Chair
Fr. Thomas Ryan, Diocese of Syracuse, NY
Muhammad Salim Akhtar, National Director, American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections
Michelle Santantonio, Chairperson, South Country Peace Group
Martin Schotz, M.D., author and active advocate for peace and nuclear disarmament
Martin Sheen, Actor & P.C.U.S.A. Teacher of Peace 1999
Aftab Siddiqui, President, Dallas, TX Peace and Justice Center
Rev. Robert Smith, Pastor, New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit, MI; Founder, Haiti Mission Alliance
John Steinbach, coordinator, Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area
Elaine Sullivan, M.Ed., LPC; LMFT, Counselor; former Benedictine Nun, Dallas, TX
Fr. Bernard Survil, U.S. Catholic Priests Association
Alice Sutter, Raging Grannies New York City
Diane Swords, Syracuse Peace Council
Br. Terence J Taffe OFM Cap., MA, LMSW, Province of St Mary, Capuchin Order
Fr. Tim Taugher, Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Binghamton, NY
Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith Peace Conference
Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Toor, Chairman of Board of Trustees, Pakistani American Congress; President, American Pakistani Physicians for Justice and Democracy; Chairman, American Muslim Alliance
Regis Tremblay, Crimea, Director “Thirty Seconds to Midnight”
Patricia Tweedy, Pax Christi Metro New York Board, Pax Christi Queens
Veterans for Peace Chapter 10, Albany
Jim Wohlgemuth, Veterans for Peace Coordinator of the Hector Black Chapter, Nashville, TN
Ann Wright, Dissent: Voices of Conscience
Zool Zulkowitz, New York Directors Guild of America; Artistic Director, The Rising Together Theater Company; Jewish Voice for Peace; Veterans For Peace
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