After the two nuclear explosions in August 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the specter of nuclear war remained a constant source of concern for all humanity. The development and continuous improvement of atomic weapons amplified nuclear anxiety. Popes themselves, from Pius XII to Francis, continuously issue grave warnings. In his Christmas speech in 1955, Pope Pius XII gave us one of the most terrible descriptions of the consequences of using nuclear weapons:
“Here is therefore the spectacle that would be offered to the terrified gaze as a consequence of this use: Entire cities, even the largest and richest in history and art, annihilated; a black blanket of death over the pulverized matter, covering countless victims with limbs burnt, twisted, scattered, while others groan in spasms of agony. Meanwhile, the specter of the radioactive cloud prevents any merciful aid to the survivors and the inexorable progress is made to eliminate the surviving lives. There will be no cry of victory, but only the inconsolable crying of humanity, which will desolately contemplate the catastrophe due to its own madness.”[i]
Under the influence of numerous literary and cinematic creations that began to increasingly equate nuclear war with apocalypse, even within Catholic circles, the idea of the world’s end caused by atomic conflagration became a constant. Its presence, fueled by political crises culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, was perpetuated and amplified. As evidence of both universal concern and the potency of the apocalypse idea associated with a potential nuclear war, I note even the effort J. R. R. Tolkien – the author of the famous epic novel The Lord of the Rings – had to make to convince certain readers that the ultimate ring in his story was not a symbol for the nuclear weapon.
Today, in the context of the escalating conflict in Ukraine, the number of those who believe that this could be the beginning of the end is greater than ever.
Today, in the context of the escalating conflict in Ukraine, the number of those who believe that this could be the beginning of the end is greater than ever. Taking into account the image of the archangel with a flaming sword from the third part of the Fatima secret, which for some is a direct reference to weapons of mass destruction, everything seems simple and clear. In a world marked by the rejection of the Christian faith and the unprecedented spread of heresies that have even infected the hierarchy of the Church, the thought of an imminent divine punishment has become inevitable. Therefore, a clear answer to the key question stated in the title is as necessary as possible: can the end of the world prophesied in the sacred books of Holy Scriptures be identified with an atomic war? I cannot answer this question, however, without seeing how the saints and doctors of the Church approach this issue. Their most important reference is represented by a text from the second epistle of the first pope in history, Saint Peter:
“But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat?” (2 Peter 3:10-12).
The passage above, which speaks of the destruction of the world by heat and fire, comes after another in which Peter recalled the destruction of the world by water, during the Flood. So if the first destruction of the world, though incomplete, was by water, the last (complete) will be by fire. The Alexandrian master Didymus the Blind strengthens the assertion by confirming that “by these words the preacher (i.e., Saint Peter) is saying that what we now see before us will be consumed by fire.”[ii] Bishop Oecumenius (10th century AD) shows that the world will be renewed by fire at the end of history. Saint Bede the Venerable also has no doubt about this, but only about the scope of the event: will it be limited only to our earth and the sky that surrounds it, or to the entire cosmos? Although he does not directly mention the passage from the apostle’s epistle, Saint Augustine discusses the subject in detail in his monumental work De Civitate Dei (The City of God), leaving us one of the most complete explanations:
“The figure of this world pass away in a conflagration of universal fire, as once before the world was flooded with a deluge of universal water. And by this universal conflagration the qualities of the corruptible elements which suited our corruptible bodies shall utterly perish, and our substance shall receive such qualities as shall, by a wonderful transmutation, harmonize with our immortal bodies, so that, as the world itself is renewed to some better thing, it is fitly accommodated to men, themselves renewed in their flesh to some better thing.”[iii]
Firstly, we must consider the detail mentioned in Saint Thomas’s description: Divine power. Therefore, the end of the world will not be brought about by the usual course of events but by the course resulting from the manifestation of divine power.
As the world was once destroyed by water, at the end of history it will be destroyed by fire, and the mortal bodies of humans will be transmuted, by the power of God, into immortal ones. Like many other subjects, Saint Thomas Aquinas will adopt this interpretation from Saint Augustine, to develop and record it in the Summa Theologica. However, first, he explains with his breathtaking accuracy why this final purification by fire is necessary:
“This cleansing of the world will remove from it the stain contracted from sin, and the impurity resulting from mixture, and will be a disposition to the perfection of glory; and consequently in this threefold respect it will be most fitting for it to be effected by fire. First, because since fire is the most noble of the elements, its natural properties are more like the properties of glory, and this is especially clear in regard to light. Secondly, because fire, on account of the efficacy of its active virtue, is not as susceptible as the other elements to the admixture of a foreign matter. Thirdly, because the sphere of fire is far removed from our abode; nor are we so familiar with the use of fire as with that of earth, water, and air, so that it is not so liable to depreciation. Moreover, it is most efficacious in cleansing and in separating by a process of rarefaction.”[iv]
After this very detailed metaphysical-theological explanation, Saint Thomas will describe one of the most widespread opinions about how the end of the world will take place, an opinion based precisely on that passage from Saint Augustine that I quoted above:
“Others, following Augustine, say that ‘just as the deluge resulted from an outpouring of the waters of the world, so the fashion of this world will perish by a burning of worldly flames’ (De Civitate Dei, xx, 16). This burning is nothing else but the assembly of all those lower and higher causes that by their nature have a kindling virtue: and this assembly will take place not in the ordinary course of things, but by the Divine power: and from all these causes thus assembled the fire that will burn the surface of this world will result.”[v]
Here’s how, through this quote, we’re already approaching the correct answer to our question: can the end of the world occur through a nuclear conflict? The short answer is negative. The long answer is more nuanced. Firstly, we must consider the detail mentioned in Saint Thomas’s description: Divine power. Therefore, the end of the world will not be brought about by the usual course of events but by the course resulting from the manifestation of divine power. If we think about the event of the flood described in Genesis chapters 7-8, it’s clear that everything that happened during Noah’s time was done by the power of God. To leave no room for doubt, in Genesis chapter 7, speaking in the first person, the Creator himself affirms the following:
“For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth” (Genesis 7:4).
Although carried out with one of the most significant natural elements, water, the flood was an event of supernatural origin. In other words, everything happened at the command of God. If we think according to this example of the end of the world by fire, the conclusion is self-evident: it will not occur at the command of any modern head of state who decides to initiate a nuclear war, but at the command of God. Therefore, it will not be the result of human actions but of a divine decision. In fact, if we carefully consider a possible atomic war, although it would be a devastating event for a large number of people, under no circumstances could it result in the burning of the entire earth and, even less so, the entire cosmos (the hypothesis discussed in metaphysical terms by Saint Bede). Therefore, the idea of the end of the world as a result of a nuclear war is excluded.
Do not exclude, however, the hypothesis of the end of the world, commanded by God, will be a result of an unprecedented increase and manifestation of wickedness among people on earth. What other event can be more telling than a nuclear war, showing a total disregard for life?
What is not excluded, however, is something else: the hypothesis of the end of the world, commanded by God, as a result of an unprecedented increase and manifestation of wickedness among people on earth. Or, for that matter, what other event can be more telling than a nuclear war, showing a total disregard for life? At the same time, there is no need to strictly think of the idea of such destruction in “material” terms. In 1946, a few days after experimental nuclear explosions began in Bikini Atoll, French designer Louis Réard released fashion that bore the atoll’s name. The “explosion” was of global proportions: within a few days, he received more than 50,000 letters, mostly from men. Assessing the effect correctly, fashion journalist Diana Vreeland said that Réard’s creation was the “atom bomb of fashion.” Essentially, from that moment, we can speak about the birth of the infamous “sexual revolution.” I’m sure this event caused far more casualties than any nuclear war.
In terms of a hypothetical spiritual interpretation, the two nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki may signify two unprecedented historical-spiritual events: 1) the explosive spread of heresies leading to the final apostasy; 2) the explosion of passions and sexual vices. The four Jesuit priests who survived near the hypocenter of the Hiroshima explosion, Hugo Lassalle (1898–1990), Hubert Schiffer (1915–1982), Wilhelm Kleinsorge (1907–1977), and Hubert Cieslik (1914–1998) showed the whole world what the solution is: the Holy Rosary recited daily in the community (i.e., family).
Sancta Maria, Auxilium Christianorum, Ora Pro Nobis!
Latest from RTV — Ireland Fights Back, Canada Outlaws Free Speech, Orthodox Church Terminates Dialogue with Pope
[i] The original text of the message can be read, in Italian, on the official website of the Vatican: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1955/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19551224_cuore-aperto.html [Accessed: 17 March 2024]
[ii] All commentaries on the 2nd epistle of St. Peter can be read in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. New Testament XI, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Edited by Gerald Bray, IVP Academic, 2000, pp. 157-158.
[iii] The online translation is available here: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm [Accessed: 17 March 2024]
[iv] The online translation is available on the same website – New Advent – as St. Augustine’s translation: https://www.newadvent.org/summa/5074.htm [Accessed: 17 March 2024]
[v] Ibidem.
