America
Pope's speeches at Madison Square Garden, 9/11 Museum, UN General Assembly
Ground Zero Memorial, Inter-religious meeting
I
feel many different emotions standing here at Ground Zero, where
thousands of lives were taken in a senseless act of destruction. Here
grief is palpable.
The water we see flowing towards that empty
pit reminds us of all those lives which fell prey to those who think
that destruction, tearing down, is the only way to settle conflicts. It
is the silent cry of those who were victims of a mindset which knows
only violence, hatred and revenge.
A mindset which can only
cause pain, suffering, destruction and tears. The flowing water is also a
symbol of our tears. Tears at so much devastation and ruin, past and
present. This is a place where we shed tears, we weep out of a sense of
helplessness in the face of injustice, murder, and the failure to settle
conflicts through dialogue. Here we mourn the wrongful and senseless
loss of innocent lives because of the inability to find solutions which
respect the common good.
This flowing water reminds us of
yesterday’s tears, but also of all the tears still being shed today. A
few moments ago I met some of the families of the fallen first
responders. Meeting them made me see once again how acts of destruction
are never impersonal, abstract or merely material. They always have a
face, a concrete story, names. In those family members, we see the face
of pain, a pain which still touches us and cries out to heaven.
At
the same time, those family members showed me the other face of this
attack, the other face of their grief: the power of love and
remembrance. A remembrance that does not leave us empty and withdrawn.
The name of so many loved ones are written around the towers’
footprints. We can see them, we can touch them, and we can never forget
them. Here, amid pain and grief, we also have a palpable sense of the
heroic goodness which people are capable of, those hidden reserves of
strength from which we can draw. In the depths of pain and suffering,
you also witnessed the heights of generosity and service. Hands reached
out, lives were given. In a metropolis which might seem impersonal,
faceless, lonely, you demonstrated the powerful solidarity born of
mutual support, love and self-sacrifice.
No one thought about
race, nationality, neighborhoods, religion or politics. It was all about
solidarity, meeting immediate needs, brotherhood. It was about being
brothers and sisters. New York City firemen walked into the crumbling
towers, with no concern for their own wellbeing. Many succumbed; their
sacrifice enabled great numbers to be saved. This place of death became a
place of life too, a place of saved lives, a hymn to the triumph of
life over the prophets of destruction and death, to goodness over evil,
to reconciliation and unity over hatred and division.
It is a
source of great hope that in this place of sorrow and remembrance I can
join with leaders representing the many religious traditions which
enrich the life of this great city. I trust that our presence together
will be a powerful sign of our shared desire to be a force for
reconciliation, peace and justice in this community and throughout the
world. For all our differences and disagreements, we can live in a world
of peace. In opposing every attempt to create a rigid uniformity, we
can and must build unity on the basis of our diversity of languages,
cultures and religions, and lift our voices against everything which
HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE 15/2 would stand in the way of such unity.
Together we are called to say “no†to every attempt to impose uniformity
and “yes†to a diversity accepted and reconciled.
This can only
happen if we uproot from our hearts all feelings of hatred, vengeance
and resentment. We know that that is only possible as a gift from
heaven. Here, in this place of remembrance, I would ask everyone
together, each in his or her own way, to spend a moment in silence and
prayer. Let us implore from on high the gift of commitment to the cause
of peace.
Peace in our homes, our families, our schools and our
communities. Peace in all those places where war never seems to end.
Peace for those faces which have known nothing but pain. Peace
throughout this world which God has given us as the home of all and a
home for all. Simply PEACE.
In this way, the lives of our dear
ones will not be lives which will one day be forgotten. Instead, they
will be present whenever we strive to be prophets not of tearing down
but of building up, prophets of reconciliation, prophets of peace.
Madison Square Garden Holy Mass
We
are in Madison Square Garden, a place synonymous with this city. This
is the site of important athletic, artistic and musical events
attracting people not only from this city, but from the whole world. In
this place, which represents both the variety and the common interests
of so many different people, we have listened to the words: “The people
who walked in darkness have seen a great light†(Is 9:1). The people who
walked – caught up in their activities and routines, amid their
successes and failures, their worries and expectations – have seen a
great light.
The people who walked – with all their joys and
hopes, their disappointments and regrets – have seen a great light. In
every age, the People of God are called to contemplate this light. A
light for the nations, as the elderly Simeon joyfully expressed it. A
light meant to shine on every corner of this city, on our fellow
citizens, on every part of our lives. “The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great lightâ€. One special quality of God’s people is their
ability to see, to contemplate, even in “moments of darknessâ€, the light
which Christ brings.
God’s faithful people can see, discern and
contemplate his living presence in the midst of life, in the midst of
the city. Together with the prophet Isaiah, we can say: The people who
walk, breathe and live in the midst of smog, have seen a great light,
have experienced a breath of fresh air. Living in a big city is not
always easy. A multicultural context presents many complex challenges.
Yet big cities are a reminder of the hidden riches present in our world:
in the diversity of its cultures, traditions and historical
experiences. In the variety of its languages, costumes and cuisine. Big
cities bring together all the different ways which we human beings have
discovered to express the meaning of life, wherever we may be.
But
big cities also conceal the faces of all those people who don’t appear
to belong, or are secondclass citizens. In big cities, beneath the roar
of traffic, beneath “the rapid pace of changeâ€, so many faces pass by
unnoticed because they have no “right†to be there, no right to be part
of the city. They are the foreigners, the children who go without
schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the
forgotten elderly. These people stand at the edges of our great avenues,
in our streets, in deafening anonymity.
They become part of an
urban landscape which is more and more taken for granted, in our eyes,
and especially in our hearts. Knowing that Jesus still walks our
streets, that he is part of the lives of his people, that he is involved
with us in one vast history of salvation, fills us with hope. A hope
which liberates us from the forces pushing us to isolation and lack of
concern for the lives of others, for the life of our city. A hope which
frees us from empty “connectionsâ€, from abstract analyses, or
sensationalist routines. A hope which is unafraid of involvement, which
acts as a leaven wherever we happen to live and work. A hope which makes
us see, even in the midst of smog, the presence of God as he continues
to walk the streets of our city.
What is it like, this light
travelling through our streets? How do we encounter God, who lives with
us amid the smog of our cities? How do we encounter Jesus, alive and at
work in the daily life of our multicultural cities? The prophet Isaiah
can guide us in this process of “learning to seeâ€. He presents Jesus to
us as “Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peaceâ€.
In this way, he introduces us to the life of
the Son, so that his life can be our life. Wonderful Counselor. The
Gospels tell us how many people came up to Jesus to ask: “Master, what
must we do?†The first thing that Jesus does in response is to propose,
to encourage, to motivate. He keeps telling his disciples to go, to go
out. He urges them to go out and meet others where they really are, not
where we think they should be. Go out, again and again, go out without
fear, without hesitation. Go out and proclaim this joy which is for all
the people.
The Mighty God. In Jesus, God himself became
Emmanuel, God-with-us, the God who walks alongside us, who gets involved
in our lives, in our homes, in the midst of our “pots and pansâ€, as
Saint Teresa of Jesus liked to say. The Everlasting Father. No one or
anything can separate us from his Love. Go out and proclaim, go out and
show that God is in your midst as a merciful Father who himself goes
out, morning and evening, to see if his son has returned home and, as
soon as he sees him coming, runs out to embrace him. An embrace which
wants to take up, purify and elevate the dignity of his children. A
Father who, in his embrace, is “glad tidings to the poor, healing to the
afflicted, liberty to captives, comfort to those who mourn†(Is
61:1-2). Prince of Peace. Go out to others and share the good news that
God, our Father, walks at our side. He frees us from anonymity, from a
life of emptiness and selfishness, and brings us to the school of
encounter. He removes us from the fray of competition and
self-absorption, and he opens before us the path of peace.
That
peace which is born of accepting others, that peace which fills our
hearts whenever we look upon those in need as our brothers and sisters.
God is living in our cities. The Church is living in our cities, and she
wants to be like yeast in the dough. She wants to relate to everyone,
to stand at everyone’s side, as she proclaims the marvels of the
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, the Prince of
Peace. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great lightâ€. And
we ourselves are witnesses of that light.
Speech at UN General Assembly
http://www.usccb.org/about/leadership/holy-see/francis/papal-visit-2015/media-resources/upload/14B-ENGLISH-UNGA-EMBARGOED.pdf