Word: kente
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...Kent's advocacy of unilateral nuclear disarmament by Britain has touched off a controversy among the nation's Catholics about the proper approach of the church to nuclear arms policy. Kent's main ecclesiastical opponent is Archbishop Bruno Heim, Pro-Nuncio (ambassador) of the Holy See to Britain, who is strongly opposed to unilateral disarmament. In an amazingly candid letter to several British Catholics, which quickly became public, Heim suggested that the monsignor might be either an "idiot" or a conscious agent of Soviet designs...
Sharpening the debate in Britain is the fact that the views of Kent and the C.N.D. have become explicitly political issues: they parallel those of the Labor Party in its fight against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives in the June 9 national election. Although the C.N.D. insists that it is nonpartisan, British Defense Minister Michael Heseltine has written to Conservative candidates in marginal constituencies warning that the C.N.D. is out to defeat them...
...lieutenant in a tank regiment before he entered the priesthood, the Oxford-educated Kent became head of the C.N.D. in 1980. He led a drive that has expanded the membership from 3,000 to 50,000-in addition, there are at least 200,000 politically active sympathizers-and mobilized effective mass demonstrations against the Bomb. Last month C.N.D. members and their allies held hands to form a 14-mile chain between Greenham Common in Berkshire, where the first U.S. cruise missiles are scheduled to be installed later this year, and Burghfield, site of Britain's nuclear warhead factory...
...Kent is opposed to the cruise missiles because "their accuracy is high and their destabilizing effect on arms agreement is very great." He also contends that the Trident missiles that Britain is obtaining from the U.S. for its submarines "take us to the edge of fear of first strike." Kent wants Britain to get rid of both its nuclear weapons and the U.S. bases, no matter what the U.S.S.R. does in terms of its nuclear weapons. Says he: "We are not waiting for the Soviets to reciprocate." As to which superpower had made the most constructive proposals in the current...
...Kent's arguments have angered many conservative British Catholics, who have protested to Archbishop Heim. He responded with a May 4 letter that was soon leaked to the press. Writing on his own and not at the Vatican's instruction, Heim stated that he favors multilateral and verifiable disarmament, and regards unilateral disarmament proposals as "mistaken." He also quoted Pope John Paul's qualified acceptance of nuclear deterrence if nations worked for disarmament. "Unilateralists are carrying out a one-sided campaign," Heim wrote, "and it is clear which side it benefits most." He continued, "Whether those doing...