Pope Francis warns of perils of atomic weapons during visit to Nagasaki

Francis blasted the demise of arms control treaties while visiting Nagasaki, the site of the second of the two 1945 US atomic bombings on Japan.

After laying a wreath of flowers and praying at the foot of the memorial to the victims, Francis said the place stands as a stark reminder “of the pain and horror that we human beings are capable of inflicting upon one another”.

“Convinced as I am that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary, I ask political leaders not to forget that these weapons cannot protect us from current threats to national and international security,” he said.

The mood was sombre and silent, darkened by the downpour that drenched the terraced fields and rice paddies of Nagasaki and the thousands of Japanese who came out in plastic raincoats to witness the second pope to pay his respects to victims of the bomb.

Francis visited Nagasaki, and later Hiroshima, at the start of his three-day trip to Japan aimed at emphasising his call for a global ban on atomic weapons.

Nagasaki was the perfect place to begin his visit, the birthplace of Christianity in Japan and ground zero of the bomb.

The Holy See was among the first countries to sign and ratify the new UN nuclear prohibition treaty, and Francis himself has gone further than any pope before him in saying not only the use, but the mere possession of atomic weapons is “to be…