Letters Pope Francis said: 'Weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, create nothing but a false sense of security' ON January 22 there took place a truly momentous event; after decades of campaigning we finally “Banned the Bomb”, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force. It is now illegal under international law to develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess, stockpile, transfer, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. This treaty is “jus cogens” or compelling law; that is, a peremptory norm from which there is no derogation (like piracy, genocide, or enslavement), as opposed to customary law, where parties have make a mutual agreement. States that ignore this are stigmatised, and stand revealed as criminal. And nuclear weapons are delegitimised. Yet this historic event was ignored by our media. Why?