Pope Leo XIV Calls for Nuclear Disarmament in New Book Foreword

Pope Leo XIV issued a foreword for his forthcoming volume “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift,” published on 21 July 2026 by the Vatican Publishing House. In the essay he declares that "it is not atomic weapons that generate peace, but disarmament" and warns that the current arms race – both nuclear and artificial‑intelligence‑driven – "frightens and terrifies". The pope quotes an unpublished 1963 Bob Dylan song, “Go Away You Bomb,” and cites the 1983 Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov, whose decision to ignore a false missile alarm averted a possible nuclear catastrophe. He also highlights figures such as Dorothy Day and Blessed Floribert Bwana Chui as exemplars of conscience‑driven peace. Inspired by the pope’s encyclical, more than 200 leading scientists, innovators and Nobel laureates signed a declaration in Rome urging governments and companies to slow AI development and pursue total nuclear‑weapon abolition. The book, an anthology of Leo’s speeches since his election in May 2025, notes that 103 states are presently involved in armed conflicts, underscoring the urgency of a "peace‑by‑disarmament" agenda.