however legitimate the latter may be. In wars and conflicts there are   
   individual   
   persons, our brothers and sisters, men and women, young and old, boys and girls   
   who weep, suffer and die. Human beings who are easily discarded when our   
   response is simply to draw up lists of problems, strategies and disagreements.   
    "As I wrote in my letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 9   
   August 2014, 'the most basic understanding of human dignity compels the   
   international community, particularly through the norms and mechanisms of   
   international law, to do all that it can to stop and to prevent further   
   systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities' and to protect   
   innocent peoples.   
    "Along the same lines I would mention another kind of conflict which is not   
   always so open, yet is silently killing millions of people. Another kind of war   
   experienced by many of our societies as a result of the narcotics trade. A war   
   which is taken for granted and poorly fought. Drug trafficking is by its very   
   nature accompanied by trafficking in persons, money laundering, the arms trade,   
   child exploitation and other forms of corruption. A corruption which has   
   penetrated to different levels of social, political, military, artistic and   
   religious life, and, in many cases, has given rise to a parallel structure   
   which   
   threatens the credibility of our institutions.   
    "I began this speech recalling the visits of my predecessors. I would hope   
   that   
   my words will be taken above all as a continuation of the final words of the   
   address of Pope Paul VI; although spoken almost exactly fifty years ago, they   
   remain ever timely. I quote: 'The hour has come when a pause, a moment of   
   recollection, reflection, even of prayer, is absolutely needed so that we may   
   think back over our common origin, our history, our common destiny. The appeal   
   to the moral conscience of man has never been as necessary as it is today. For   
   the danger comes neither from progress nor from science; if these are used   
   well,   
   they can help to solve a great number of the serious problems besetting   
   mankind.   
   Among other things, human genius, well applied, will surely help to meet the   
   grave challenges of ecological deterioration and of exclusion. As Paul VI said:   
   'The real danger comes from man, who has at his disposal ever more powerful   
   instruments that are as well fitted to bring about ruin as they are to achieve   
   lofty conquests'.   
    "The common home of all men and women must continue to rise on the foundations   
   of a right understanding of universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness   
   of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly,   
   children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those   
   considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic.   
   This common home of all men and women must also be built on the understanding   
   of   
   a certain sacredness of created nature.   
    "Such understanding and respect call for a higher degree of wisdom, one which   
   accepts transcendence, self-transcendence, rejects the creation of an   
   all-powerful elite, and recognises that the full meaning of individual and   
   collective life is found in selfless service to others and in the sage and   
   respectful use of creation for the common good. To repeat the words of Paul VI,   
   'the edifice of modern civilisation has to be built on spiritual principles,   
   for   
   they are the only ones capable not only of supporting it, but of shedding light   
   on it'.   
    "El Gaucho Martin Fierro, a classic of literature in my native land, says:   
   'Brothers should stand by each other, because this is the first law; keep a   
   true   
   bond between you always, at every time - because if you fight among yourselves,   
   you'll be devoured by those outside'. The contemporary world, so apparently   
   connected, is experiencing a growing and steady social fragmentation, which   
   places at risk 'the foundations of social life' and consequently leads to   
   'battles over conflicting interests'.   
    "The present time invites us to give priority to actions which generate new   
   processes in society, so as to bear fruit in significant and positive   
   historical   
   events. We cannot permit ourselves to postpone 'certain agendas' for the   
   future.   
   The future demands of us critical and global decisions in the face of   
   world-wide   
   conflicts which increase the number of the excluded and those in need.   
    "The praiseworthy international juridical framework of the United Nations   
   Organisation and of all its activities, like any other human endeavour, can be   
   improved, yet it remains necessary; at the same time it can be the pledge of a   
   secure and happy future for future generations. And so it will, if the   
   representatives of the States can set aside partisan and ideological interests,   
   and sincerely strive to serve the common good. I pray to Almighty God that this   
   will be the case, and I assure you of my support and my prayers, and the   
   support   
   and prayers of all the faithful of the Catholic Church, that this Institution,   
   all its member States, and each of its officials, will always render an   
   effective service to mankind, a service respectful of diversity and capable of   
   bringing out, for sake of the common good, the best in each people and in every   
   individual. God bless you all".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Memorial at Ground Zero: life will always triumph over the prophets of   
   destruction   
    Vatican City, 26 September 2015 (VIS) - The Memorial at Ground Zero, built at   
   the site where on 11 September 2001 the Twin Towers collapsed after being   
   struck   
   by two aircraft in a terrorist attack that caused 2,896 deaths, was the second   
   stop of the Pope's visit to New York. The Memorial is now a park of almost   
   33,000 square metres with a grove of white oak trees and two artificial   
   waterfalls that flow into two large pools where the Twin Towers were previously   
   located. These are surrounded by a low bronze wall on which there are engraved   
   the names of all the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 26   
   February 1993 and 11 September 2001. Below ground, where the foundations of the   
   Twin Towers lay, there is a museum commemorating the tragic events.   
    Upon arrival Francis, accompanied by Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan,   
   archbishop   
   of New York, left a flower near the waterfall and at the Memorial building   
   where   
   he was awaited by a rabbi and an imam of New York. He said a prayer for peace,   
   which was followed by five meditations on peace (Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh,   
   Christian and Muslim) and a Jewish prayer for the deceased, after which the   
   Pope   
   pronounced a discourse.   
    "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".   
    He also recalled his meeting with some of the families of the fallen first   
   responders, and emphasised that this "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". However, he   
   added,   
   "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".   
    Remembering the firefighters who, on 11 September entered the crumbling towers   
   shortly before they fell, without considering the risk to their own lives, he   
   spoke about "the palpable sense of the heroic goodness which people are capable   
   of, those hidden reserves of strength from which we can draw". He added, "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".   
    Francis invited all those present to pray in silence for 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".   
    "In this way", he concluded, "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".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Meeting with the children and families of immigrants in Harlem   
    Vatican City,26 September 2015 (VIS) - The School of Our Lady Queen of Angels   
   in Harlem has 282 pupils aged from 5 to 14, of whom 69 per cent study as a   
   result of a scholarship. The children are from low income families, so-called   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)