U.N.-ITE AGAINST NUKES
Holy Father in address to world leaders calls for ban on bombs
Pope Francis made history again Friday morning, with an address before the largest array of world leaders ever gathered at the United Nations in which he declared that the environment itself has rights, and called for nations to combat poverty and ban nuclear weapons.
A day after his historic speech to Congress, the “people’s pope” blasted the current “culture of waste” to a packed United Nations General Assembly.
“A selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged,” the pope said, speaking in Spanish.
Climate change could “threaten the very existence of the human species,” Francis insisted. “Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity.”
Urging peace, he called for a ban on nuclear weapons — and said he hopes the Iran deal will last “with the cooperation of all the parties involved.”
“The recent agreement reached on the nuclear question in a sensitive region of Asia and the Middle East is proof of the potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy,” he said.
The call for a world free of nuclear weapons drew applause from across the General Assembly
— including from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
In a pointed statement to the 193member General Assembly, Francis called for “concrete steps and immediate measures” — not simply “solemn commitments.”
He singled out the “painful situation” in the Middle East and North Africa, where Christians and others are “paying for their religious belief with their own lives or through slavery.”
Francis railed against war and drug trafficking, while urging world leaders to remember the “individual persons” who suffer during times of conflict.
The pontiff also advocated for the “right to education,” saying that in order to escape from poverty, people must be “dignified agents of their own destiny.”
Toward the end of the address — whose audience included Mayor de Blasio, New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan and even “James Bond” star Daniel Craig, who is the UN’s Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and other Explosive Hazards — Francis demanded respect “for the sacredness of every human life,” including “the unborn.”
He finished by calling for leaders to put aside partisan interests and “strive to serve the common good.”
Francis arrived at UN headquarters in his faithful black Fiat and was greeted inside by UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon.
After a closeddoor meeting, Francis delivered a short speech in English to about 400 UN staffers, calling them “the backbone of this organization” and thanking them for their work.
“Like so many other people worldwide, you are concerned about your children’s welfare and education,” he said. “You worry about the future of the planet, and what kind of a world we will leave for future generations.”
Francis ended by asking the audience to pray for him — and drew laughs when he tweaked his request for nonbelievers.
“And if any of you are not believers, I ask you to wish me well,” he added with a smile.
Francis’ visit marked the fifth time a pope has delivered a speech at the United Nations, and the fourth time a pontiff has addressed the General Assembly.