Nuclear weapon proliferation among top concerns of Pinoy head of Vatican mission to UN

International issues such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons may top the concerns of the Filipino archbishop the Vatican recently tapped to head its presence in the United Nations, a Catholic news site reported Friday.

The Catholic News Agency said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, 55, may have to first tackle nuclear weapons, the target of the Non-Proliferation Treaty to be discussed in 2015.

"Archbishop Auza will continue the Catholic Church’s leading role in the debate. As one of the founders of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Holy See has always backed the right use of nuclear energy for civilian reasons. At the same time the Holy See has always worked for a treaty which would lead to a ban on the possession of nuclear weapons," it said.

CNA said Auza's predecessor at the Vatican mission to the UN, Archbishop Francis Chullikat, had tackled the issue in his last intervention at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparation Conference last April 30.

"It would be better to have the nuclear-weapon states working with the non-nuclear states to prepare a common path to develop a legally binding instrument banning the possession of nuclear weapons," Chullikat said at the time.

The CNA also noted that while the Holy See had been asked several times to raise its status in the UN to being a member state, it maintained permanent observer status so it can exercise moral authority without being obliged to vote on war resolutions or resolutions against the Church’s teaching.

Auza, who hails from Talibon in Bohol, is to take over one of the most influential posts of Vatican diplomacy. His appointment was announced last July 2. He is expected to arrive in New York at the end of August.

Before his new post, Auza was named papal nuncio to Haiti in 2008 and actively served in response to the Haiti quake of 2010.

CNA said the Vatican's mission at the UN aims to assist the UN in realizing “peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance.”

On the other hand, it said Auza will likely bring his commitment for the poor to the mission. —Joel Locsin/KBK, GMA News