Bishop David Malloy, Bishop of the Diocese of Rockford, IL, issued a statement July 14 expressing his disapproval with the U.S. sending send cluster munitions to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

"Pope Francis has addressed the conventions on antipersonnel mines and cluster munitions, exhorting all countries to commit to these conventions ‘so that there are no more mine victims," said Mallory, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace. "While recognizing Ukraine’s right to self-defense, we must continue to pray for dialogue and peace, and I join with our Holy Father in supporting and sharing in his moral concern and aspiration."

Malloy also reiterated his support for the U.S. to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty, as the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia are all among among the few remaining countries that have not yet signed the 2010 ban, which prohibits the "use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, and transfer of such munitions," according to a report by the United Nations.

“Over 100 countries, including the Holy See, have signed the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning their use, recognizing their indiscriminate nature and risk to civilian populations long after fighting has ceased," Malloy said in the statement. "But the United States and Russia have not signed the agreement. I, and my predecessors as chairmen of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, have long urged the U.S. government to sign on to both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty."

The decision to send cluster munitions has sparked significant controversy, specifically among members of Congress who are concerned about the potential harm to innocent civilians caused by cluster munitions' reported high failure rate. The U.S. claims that the percentage of unexploded munitions, known as duds, within the package will be less than 3% of a new, $800 million aid package to be sent to Ukraine. According to AP News, the munitions will be sourced from Pentagon stocks and will include ammunition as well as Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles.

"Anti-personnel mines are underhand because they prolong war and foster fear even after the conflicts have ended," Pope Francis wrote in a letter to the President of the Conference of Anti-Personnel Landmines in 2014. "To the human failure that war represents, they add a sense of fear which pervades the way of life and alters the building of peace. This feeling is destructive not only for the person subjected to it but also for the one who imposes it."

Francis wrote that the victims of mines "remind us every moment of this human failure and the emptiness that results from it," he added. "Conventions such as that on anti-personnel mines or that on cluster munitions, are not only cold legal frameworks, but they represent a challenge for all those who are seeking to safeguard and build peace, and, in particular, to defend the weakest."