Just days before Pope Francis lands in America for a three-city tour, a Vatican official stressed the Holy See approves of Obama’s highly controversial Iran nuclear deal, believing it will bring peace to the world.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, who serves as the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, addressed the 59th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday, and explained that the Vatican wholeheartedly supports America’s nuclear deal with Iran.
“We hope that the full implementation of [the nuclear deal] will ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program under the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and will be a definitive step toward greater stability and security in the region,” Gallagher said. (RELATED: Pope Francis Will Deliver Most Speeches In Spanish During American Tour)
“The way to resolve disputes and difficulties should always be that of dialogue and negotiation,” the Vatican official added. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s dialogue of America, however, has been one where the theocratic ruler calls the USA “Satan,” and chants “Death to America!”
Francis himself has previously supported the Iran deal, even praying for it during the Vatican’s 2015 Easter prayer, according to Reuters.
In America, however, only 21 percent of citizens approve of the deal, according to a September 8 Pew Research Center poll. And a whopping 49 percent flat-out disapprove it.
The Vatican’s comments on the Iran deal — which is currently being denounced by GOP presidential candidates, and Republican Congressman — comes just one week before the Holy Father makes his first American visit. From September 22 to 24, Francis will be touring Washington, D.C., including addressing Congress and meeting Obama at the White House.
“Just as wealthy nations have incurred an ‘ecological debt’ that demands more from them in addressing the environmental crisis, nuclear weapons states have incurred a nuclear debt,” Gallagher said. “Because of the risks their nuclear arsenals pose to the world, nuclear weapons states bear a heavy moral burden to ensure that their nuclear weapons are never used and to reduce their stocks substantially while taking the lead in negotiating a nuclear ban.”