"Remembering the Devastating Toll: Nagasaki's Catholic Community Decimated by Atomic Bombing"

On the 78th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, it is revealed that two-thirds of the city's Catholic community, which had a rich history of Christian martyrs, were killed in the conflagration. Nagasaki, an important center of Catholicism in Japan since the 16th century, had a population of about 240,000 at the time of the bombing. The bomb, named "Fat Man," caused devastating destruction and immediately killed around 75,000 people, with a similar number dying from radiation injuries and illnesses in the days that followed. The choice of Nagasaki as the target raises questions about why the city with the most widespread and affirmed Catholicism in Japan was selected for the second atomic attack.