Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, Apostolic Nuncio, is the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks on behalf of the entire Roman Catholic Church. On July 1, 2011, he gave a powerful speech in Kansas City, Missouri, site of a planned new facility to build the non-nuclear components of nuclear warheads. Entitled “The Nuclear Question: The Church’s Teachings and the Current State of Affairs,” it can be read online here.

For the past several years local peace activists have been mounting a campaign to oppose a nuclear weapons facility now under construction in Kansas City. The $673 million plant, the first new nuclear weapons plant in 33 years, will produce nonnuclear parts for nuclear weapons. The city government has subsidized the facility’s construction with $815 million in municipal bonds.

The activists have filed lawsuits and have held weekly protests at the facility’s construction site. They recently gathered enough signatures to place an initiative on a local fall ballot, which, they say, if passed, would compel the operator of the facility to cease nuclear work in favor of green energy production.

Click here to read the key points of the Archbishop's landmark speech.