Archbishop Wester condemns nuclear weapons as “blasphemous”

The Catholic Herald • October 30, 2025

Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe has described nuclear weapons as “blasphemous,” saying they represent humanity’s attempt to assume the power of God.

Speaking at Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Church in New Mexico, the archbishop said: “I think nuclear weapons are blasphemous, an attempt to build a Tower of Babel, an attempt to eat from the apple of the tree of the Garden of Eden, to become like God, to become gods.”

He made his remarks at an event organised by the advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico, following his return from Japan where he had taken part in ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Addressing the crowd in a 30-minute speech that ended with a standing ovation, Archbishop Wester warned that the existence of nuclear arms posed both a moral and spiritual danger to the world.

“In humility, we must avoid inventing anything that, in a matter of hours, can destroy what God has created,” he said. “The story of Adam and Eve is archetypal, I think: when human beings try to become as God, they lose the Garden of Eden and they must endure the cruel reality of paradise lost.”

The address followed Archbishop Wester’s visit to Japan to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During his talk, hosted by the advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico, he warned against continued reliance on nuclear deterrence. “I would propose the ones who are really naive are the ones who keep pushing [nuclear] deterrence,” he said.

Archbishop Wester, who has led the Archdiocese of Santa Fe since 2015, said that although his campaign for nuclear disarmament had met with a muted response, he believed it was a cause the Church must pursue. “Overall, in the archdiocese, the response is very muted and lacklustre,” he said. “Some people who will talk about it with me will pretty much say, ‘Well, Archbishop, you’re kind of being naive.’ … Who’s really naive, those who think we can live with nuclear weapons or those who believe we need to live without them?”

His comments come as Los Alamos National Laboratory, a key site in the creation of the first atomic bomb, continues to play a major role in U.S. nuclear weapons production.

The laboratory, founded during the Second World War as part of the Manhattan Project, is now preparing to produce bomb cores at a rate of 30 per year by 2030. Critics have raised concerns about safety, environmental impact, and the enduring moral implications of such work.

New Mexico remains closely linked to the origins of the atomic age. The first nuclear device was tested at the Trinity Site in 1945 before the attacks on Japan that killed more than 200,000 people. The bombings, often credited with hastening the end of the war, also ushered in a new era of existential risk and moral debate.