It has been 80 years since this moment…
World War II was in its final days. Japan refused to surrender, and the United States was searching for a quick and decisive way to end the conflict.
That’s when they dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and later, a second one on Nagasaki.
Thousands of people died instantly. The cities were left in ruins, and the effects of the radiation poisoning impacted entire generations.
She is one of the few survivors. This is how she remembers that terrifying day she lived through at just 13 years old:
SETSUKO THURLOW
Superviviente de Hiroshima
At 8:15, I was in the second floor of the wooden building at the army headquarter, which was 1.8km from the hypocenter
At that moment I saw the bluish white flash all over the window, and then I still have the sensation of flying up in the air and floating up there and that's the end of my consciousness. When I regained consciousness in a total darkness and stillness, I knew what happened to me.
I thought I was faced with death. I was dying because I tried to move my body, but I couldn't move it.
A testimony powerful that transports anyone to the very moment of the explosion and to feel what it was like to be in the skin of all those who, like her, were fortunate enough to survive.
It was an event that marked world history. In fact, it is still remembered today. For example, the most recent popes have always kept it in mind throughout their pontificates.
Pope Saint John Paul II traveled to Japan in 1981. The message he left behind still resonates today: “To remember Hiroshima is to detest nuclear war.”
In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI blessed this image in St. Peter’s Square, the so-called “bombed Virgin.” A face that was damaged during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki with only the head capable of preservation.
Pope Francis has also engaged with both Japanese cities. In fact, this moment took place during one of his general audiences in March 2019.
Holy Father, please will you blow out this flame so there will never again be another Nagasaki, so there will never again be another Hiroshima?
And that’s exactly what happened. Pope Francis blew out this candle in a symbolic gesture against war.
That’s not the only thing. Pope Francis visited both destroyed cities a few months later and prayed at the peace memorials.
Pope Leo XIV has also shown his affection for all of them. This is how he prayed for the victims.
POPE LEO XIV
I want to assure my prayers for all those who suffered its physical, psychological, and social effects.
Eighty years later, the memory remains alive. Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked a before and after, and although time passes on, the memory of what happened endures.
BAM
Trans. CRT
