Shi'ite Muslim leaders from Iran have issued a joint declaration with US Catholic bishops calling for nations in possession of weapons of mass destruction “to rid themselves of these indiscriminate weapons”.
The short declaration paired weapons of mass destruction with terrorism, saying: “We regard the development and use of weapons of mass destruction and acts of terrorism as immoral”.
The declaration, entitled “Gathered in the name of God”, was signed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, and Bishop Oscar Cantú, chair of the US Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.
It was the outcome of a six-day meeting in Rome in June. This followed a meeting in Qom, Iraq, in March 2014, which focused on the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Shi'ite signatories were Ayatollah Ali-Reza A’arafi, president of Al-Mustafa International University, and Dr Abdul-Majid Hakim-Elahi, director of the International Affairs Office of the Society of Qom Seminary Scholars.
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