During 1983, three major Roman Catholic hierarchies, the German (April 18), the United States (May 3) and the French (November 8), saw fit to publish detailed statements on the relation of Christian reasoning to questions of peace and war in the nuclear era. In addition, the British Primate, Basil Cardinal Hume, wrote a brief, pointed letter (November 17) on this difficult subject. As these are the major Western powers with deterrent capacities, either nuclear or conventional or both, and with large Christian bodies in their citizenry, the argument of these ecclesiastical bodies is of particular interest to everyone seriously endeavoring to understand the nature and limits of civil power in this area.