Pope's Address at Ground Zero

Zenit.org ^ | 09-25-15 | Pope Francis

[Salvation]

Pope's Address at Ground Zero

"This flowing water reminds us of yesterday’s tears, but also of all the tears still being shed today"

• New York City, September 25, 2015 (ZENIT.org) Staff Reporter | 1905 hits

  Here is a Vatican translation of the address Pope Francis gave today at an interreligious ceremony at Ground Zero. He began the Spanish-language address apologizing for being unable to give it in English.

  * * *

  Dear Friends,

  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 A remembrance that does not leave us empty and withdrawn.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 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.

[Salvation]

** 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.**

[Salvation]

Catholic Ping!

[Excellence]

It is the silent cry of those who were victims of a mindset which knows only violence, hatred and revenge.

And whose mindset might that be, Pope ol’ boy?

[onedoug]

Once again, no naming of the perpetrators of these attacks. And almost an apology for the mentality of these islamist bastards.

God spare us this idiot of a man.

[Cicero]

Maybe the Pope doesn't think about religion when he stands there in the place of sorrow, but the first responders did.

Here's the Ground Zero Cross:

And, of course, the guys who flew two planes into the buildings were also thinking about religion. Theirs.

[Paisan]

I see no mention of Jesus Christ in this address...

[delchiante]

‘interreligious service’

That is biblical code for satanic..or in star wars code lingo- star wars bar scene..

What a motley crew of satanic worshippers assembled..
Interfaith is satanic through and through.. But we should expect this kind of thing in Babylon...

[Fido969]

and the failure to settle conflicts through dialogue.

Oh, I see.

9-11 was caused by "the failure to settle conflicts through dialog."

Got it.

[Mr Rogers]

“All we are saying is give peace a chance...”

“Our strength is our diversity”.

“Is the Pope Catholic?” can now be answered:

“The Pope has a faith-tradition which says ‘we can and must build unity on the basis of our diversity of languages, cultures and religions, and lift our voices against everything which would stand in the way of such unity’, and we can only do so ‘if we uproot from our hearts all feelings of hatred, vengeance and resentment’”.

[Tennessee Nana]

mass hysteria and fan worship at Independence Hall..

[HandyDandy]

This is where I got stuck:

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 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.

It is really giving me a headache. The Vicar Of Christ is saying we must build a diversity of religions?

[Anoreth]

Haha what?

[pleasenotcalifornia]

Does the Pope’s Fiat have a COEXIST bumper sticker?

[delchiante]

From another article -Washington Post- The story behind Pope Francis’s interfaith service at Ground Zero-

More than 400 representatives of dozens of faith communities were invited to the 75-minute gathering, called “A Witness to Peace.” It will include a prayer from the pope and “meditations on peace” from Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist leaders as well as a traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, the El malei rachamim, which is chanted and calls for the ascension of the souls of the dead.

Anytime you have Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Rabbinic Jews, you have antichrist’s..
Scripurally, they deny the Son and Scripture says that is ‘antichrist’..
1 John 2:22-23

They are not ‘brothers or sisters in faith’..

Inter faith is satanic..

There is one Master, One Faith,One Baptism Ephesians 4:5

They should be preached the gospel and not accepted as faith ‘brothers or sisters’..

But Babel is full of this confusion..

500 years ago the first reformers called the papacy the ‘seat of antichrist’ and the popes ‘antichrist’..

They were unashamed of that view.. That would be considered hate speech today ...

[omega4412]

Where is Pope Urban II when we really need him?

[Anoreth]

Anti semitism always seems to be a symptom of something much worse.

[Anoreth]

Also I don’t see what this has to do with Star Wars.

[delchiante]

A bunch of people in costumes..

[delchiante]

Rabbinic Judaism is ‘antichrist’, according to scripture..

If you believe in the New Testament is Scripture-
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.…

Rabbinic Judaism denies the Son. That is one of the definitions of ‘antichrist. Sorry..

Synagogue of Satan wouldnt be ‘nice to say,’ either. Take it up with the Way, Truth and Life..

[Tax-chick]

It’s a marker that indicates, “Back away carefully,” rather like tattoos on the face.