Nuclear Disarmament

Started in 2014, the Project on Revitalizing Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament is focused on revitalizing and strengthening the voice of the Catholic community in the United States and beyond in the debate on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. Through various initiatives the project is empowering a new generation of Catholics – Church leaders, scholars, and students – to contribute to wider efforts to further reduce and ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons. The project has three main areas of focus: policy engagement, scholar engagement, and student engagement, including student internships with major disarmament organizations.

This Project is co-sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame; the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, at Georgetown University; Office of International Justice and Peace, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; International Federation of Catholic Universities; Institute for Policy Research, The Catholic University of America; Fordham Center on Religion and Culture; and the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. With the generous support of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

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News and Events

The Human and Moral Costs of the New Nuclear Arms Race
September 24, 2026
Keough School DC Office, 1400 16th St NW, Washington, DC

The United States is in the midst of a massive nuclear "modernization" program that will cost some $1.7 trillion. At the same time, programs for those most in need at home and abroad are being cut to the bone or eliminated, along with support for diplomacy, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. This event will focus on the Catholic Church's opposition to the vast sums being wasted on nuclear weapons and the moral imperative to reverse course and negotiate arms control treaties that can lead toward global nuclear disarmament.

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Students Engaging Nuclear Disarmament

Mia Clarke and Lillian Post, a co-leaders of CPN's Student Disarmament Webinar series, wrote about their summer experiences with nuclear disarmament. Clarke worked a summer internship with the Arms Control Association (ACA). She authored a blog post for ACA focused on engaging students and youth on the renewed nuclear threat facing the world today, and also wrote a story recapping the internship for the Keough School of Global Affairs. Post took a summer course in Rome with CPN coordinator Gerard Powers and was able to attend the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on AI and Nuclear War. Post wrote about what she learned from the course and from attending the Assembly.

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Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on AI and Nuclear War
July 14-16, 2026
Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy

From July 14-16, 2026, the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War was held at Borgo Laudato Si’ in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo. The assembly brought together Vatican officials, leaders of major arms control organizations and tech companies, and other specialists in nuclear weapons, AI, and ethics, including 30 Nobel laureates. Inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, the gathering focused on the pope’s vision of an "Unarmed and Disarming Peace" at a time when AI poses existential threats that could exacerbate the existential threat posed by the worsening nuclear predicament. It culminated in the drafting of The Rome Declaration on AI and nuclear weapons.

The initiative was supported by the Nobel Laureates Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the Nobel Women's Initiative, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Pugwash, the Yunus Center, the Catholic University of America, the University of Chicago's Existential Risk Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Soka Gakkai, with the Domus Communis Foundation serving as General Secretariat. Several affiliates of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network participated, served on the steering committee, and co-chaired working groups.

For additional reporting, see coverage from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, OSV News, and Vatican News. See also an essay by Tobias Winright, a moral theologian who attended the Assembly.

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See All Past Events

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Curriculum for Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament

CPN Nuclear Weapons Curriculum

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Select Network Publications

• "The Pope’s Historic Encyclical: Disarming AI and Building a Just Peace," Arms Control Today, Maryann Cusimano Love (2026)
• "The New Nuclear Predicament: An Ethic of Deterrence or an Ethic of Disarmament?" Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Gerard F. Powers (2025)
• Forbidden: Receiving Pope Francis's Condemnation of Nuclear Weapons, edited by Drew Christiansen, SJ, and Carole Sargent (2023)
• A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament, edited by Drew Christiansen, SJ, and Carole Sargent (2020)
  *Catholic Media Association Book Awards 2021 second place winner
• "The Papal Vision: Beyond the Bomb," Arms Control Association, Maryann Cusimano Love (2020)
• "Papal Condemnation of Nuclear Deterrence and What Is Next," Arms Control Today, Gerard F. Powers (2018)
• Student essays on the symposium "Prospects for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament" (2017)
  • Sara Bueter, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Atomic Pulse Blog
  • David Patou, Berkley Center Forum
  • Theodore Dedon, Berkley Center Forum

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