JAKARTA - Pope Leo XIV warned of the risk of a new arms race as the New START, the US-Russian nuclear agreement, expires on Thursday, February 5.
"I urge you not to leave this instrument without trying to ensure that it is followed up concretely and effectively," the Pope said in his weekly general audience on Wednesday, February 4, quoted by AFP.
Leo, the first American Pope of the Catholic Church, added, "it is more urgent than ever to replace the logic of fear and mistrust with a common ethic capable of guiding choices towards the common good."
New START, a nuclear agreement between the US and Russia after decades of agreements since the start of the Cold War, will end tomorrow Thursday. Thus, the limit on the nuclear power of the two countries will end.
Russia has offered an extended New START agreement for one year, but US President Donald Trump, when asked by the New York Times in September 2025, indicated that he would let the agreement expire.
In 2023, Russia froze its participation in New START, but voluntarily continued to comply with the limits set out in the nuclear agreement.
A year later, Russia tested its newest nuclear-armed aircraft carrier without an atomic warhead, and Trump said he moved two nuclear submarines closer to Russia.
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