Despite the annihilation of two major Japanese cities in 1945, atomic bombs have not been relegated to the pages of history books, but continue to be developed today – with increasingly more power to destroy than they had when unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki back in 1945.

Those first nuclear weapons deployed by the United States, indiscriminately killed tens of thousands of non-combatants but also left indelible scars for the immediate survivors, that they, their children and grandchildren still carry today. (Horrors of Hiroshima, un.org)

The Community of Sant’Egidio with the help of parishioners, volunteers and collaborating organizations in New York invites all to a Vigil for Peace on August 6-9. You may read the details here.

In solidarity with the Church in Japan, let us pray with the words that Pope St. John Paul II shared at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima on February 25, 1981: