Pope urges abolition of nuclear weapons at Japan’s ground zeros

HIROSHIMA: Pope Francis brought his campaign to abolish nuclear weapons to the only two cities ever hit by atomic bombs on Sunday, calling their possession indefensibly perverse and immoral and their use a crime against mankind and nature. Francis visited the ground zeros of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both seared in the world’s collective consciousness after the bombs dropped there by the United States three days apart in August 1945 in an effort to end World War Two. “Here, in an incandescent burst of lightning and fire, so many men and women, so many dreams and hopes, disappeared, leaving behind only shadows and silence,” Francis said at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial after standing in silent prayer and listening to a harrowing account by a survivor.