On October 19, Archbishop Christophe El Kassis, the Permanent Observor of the Holy See to the United Nations, issued another statement on the need for eliminating nuclear weapons as well as the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction. In his statement, El Kassis warned that “at a time of profound instability, nuclear arsenals are being modernized and expanded, nuclear rhetoric is becoming more pronounced, and deterrence continues to occupy a central place in security doctrines.”

He lamented a situation “in which peace hinges on the threat of catastrophic destruction.” He said that a “security architecture that relies on the credible threat of nuclear weapons use,” as is the case with deterrence [Mutually Assured Destruction], “leaves humanity in a permanent state of vulnerability” and is a “profound contradiction.”