Thursday, November 17, 2011

Japan's bishops oppose nuclear power

Japan’s Catholic spiritual leaders are in no doubt about the fact that it is necessary “to put an end to nuclear energy now: to come to terms with the disaster of the tragic Fukushima accident.”  

From Sendai, the province that was worst hit by the earthquake last March, and the place where the Japanese Episcopal Conference met to spread the message of a text in which the Church clearly favours an end to the era of nuclear power in Japan. 

The bishops’ position, which was reported by UCA news and picked up on by missionary news agencies Fides and MissiOnline, leaves no room for interpretation.

There are currently 54 active nuclear power plants in the Country and – according to the document – each one of these “hides within it, the danger of a potential accident, such as the one in Fukushima.”

To overcome this situation, the alternative energy path needs to be taken. 

“Japan – bishops recalled – has a culture, a national vision and a life tradition that are all in harmony with nature.” But today, this needs to reflect in “an adaptation of its lifestyle, which today is excessively dependent on nuclear power.” 

The bishops’ call is: “Stop nuclear energy now.”

“After the Fukushima disaster” – the Bishop of Niigata, Isao Kikuchisi, President of Caritas Internationalis’ Asian branch – “Japan was forced to reflect. We ask our fellow citizens to change and to simplify their lifestyle. Today, the majority of the population shares a fear of the negative effects of nuclear power. Others think that changing the lifestyle of an entire Country is impossible, so nuclear power plants cannot be shut down. As bishops, we have discussed this, we will probably be criticised, but the reality is that our greatest asset is the protection of life and the Creator’s safeguarding. We have a duty to say this.”