The Vatican is working to seek mediation between the United States and North Korea, with the aim of averting the risk of a military confrontation. The direct commitment of Pope Francis is demonstrated by the World Summit for Nuclear Disarmament to be held on 10 and 11 November in Rome, on the Pope's own initiative. The official title of the meeting is "Prospects for a world free from nuclear weapons and for full disarmament"
Eleven Nobel Peace Prize winners will arrive at the Vatican, including Beatrice Fihn, director of ICAN, the international campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, who won the award this year precisely for her commitment in the name of disarmament. Together with them will be the leaders of the United Nations (Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament), of NATO (Rose Gottemoeller, deputy secretary general) and representatives of the states involved in the Korean crisis, including the United States, South Korea and Russia, who will send their respective ambassadors to the Vatican to the meeting. Representing the victims of nuclear weapons will be the Japanese Masako Wada, one of the last survivors of Hiroshima.
All the actors in the treaty to ban nuclear weapons signed at the UN in July, after years of negotiations, by 122 countries will be seated at the Vatican table. The commitment that the Vatican has been making for months on the North Korean question has strengthened in view of Francis' trip to Asia at the end of November. A journey in which the Pontiff will touch Myanmar and Bangladesh, but in which the North Korean crisis will be a constant background.
