Nuclear deterrence, the idea that possessing nuclear weapons discourages enemy attack, is preventing the goal of disarmament from being achieved, said the papal nuncio to the United Nations. Archbishop Celestino Migliore told an audience hosted by the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University on March 16 that cold war conditions that encouraged the church’s “limited toleration of nuclear deterrence” no longer exist. Other panelists at the forum said that religion can play an important role in achieving the eventual goal of dismantling all nuclear weapons and called for new international treaties that specify the depth of weapons cuts, especially between the nuclear superpowers, the United States and Russia.