Pope Francis urges UN leaders to examine conscience

Pope Francis continued his groundbreaking visit to the US with further strong appeals for action, demanding peace and environmental justice before the largest ever gathering of world leaders at the UN.

The pontiff, speaking to the world body for the first time, repeated his call to combat climate change for a second day on this US tour, blaming the “misuse and destruction of the environment” on “a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity”.

He admonished world leaders for "the negative effects of military and political interventions which are not co-ordinated between members of the international community", pointing to the violence against Christians and other ethnic groups in the Middle East and Africa.

“These realities should serve as a grave summons to an examination of conscience on the part of those charged with the conduct of international affairs,” he said at the UN, a body charged with that task.

The day after his historic address to congress in Washington, the Argentinian pope kept up his hardline message.

In a condemnation of countries putting political interests ahead of people, he mentioned the world’s worst regions of conflict.

"Not only in cases of religious or cultural persecution, but in every situation of conflict, as in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan and the Great Lakes region, real human beings take precedence over partisan interest, however legitimate the latter may be," he said.

‘Lists of problems’

In wars and conflicts, he said, human beings are “easily discarded when our only response is to draw up lists of problems, strategies and disagreements”.

In contrast, he praised the Iranian nuclear deal as “proof of the potential of political goodwill”, expressing hope that the agreement would “be lasting and efficacious”.

Pope Francis, the fifth pope to visit the UN, told the New York gathering to respect humanity’s “right to the environment”.

In response to economic crises, he called on international financial agencies not to subject countries to “oppressive lending systems, which, far from promoting progress, subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence”.

Security was, tight in Manhattan with a heavy police presence around the city’s clogged streets. The flag of the Holy See, “a nonmember observer state”, was, for the first time, raised above the UN headquarters for the pope’s visit.

In his address to the general assembly, the pope railed against the treatment of the poor, whom he said suffer the most from offences against human rights and the environment.

“They are cast off by society, forced to live off what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the abuse of the environment,” he said. “They are part of today’s widespread and quietly growing ‘culture of waste’.”

In a broad-ranging address, he also touched on the Catholic church’s conservatives of marriage and sexual identity. He called for respect for “the natural difference between a man and a woman”.

Gay rights

In an apparent criticism of support for gay and transgender rights, he condemned “ideological colonisation by the imposition of anomalous models and lifestyles which are alien to people’s identities”.

After the UN, the pope visited the memorial in lower Manhattan to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. He said a private prayer and laid a white rose on the black marble memorial before meeting relatives of the victims. One relative told reporters beforehand that it was a great honour to have the pope visit a place the 9/11 families see as having a deep meaning in terms of promoting peace.

"For us, the pope seems to be the world spiritual leader, and to have him spend some time here, say some prayers, lead the multifaith service, we think that's a tremendous tribute," said Tom Rogér, whose daughter Jean was a flight attendant on the American Airlines aircraft that was crashed into the World Trade Centre's North Tower.

Speaking after placing a flower on his daughter’s name on the memorial, an emotional Mr Rogér said he would ask the pope to pray for her.

Kelly Grady, whose brother- in-law Christopher, a currency trader, was killed in the North Tower, described the pope's visit as beautiful, given how he is a "great symbol for peace, forgiveness and humility".

"This is essentially his grave site so he is getting the pope's blessing on his grave," her husband Brendan Grady said of the pontiff's visit.

At the multireligious service, the pope joined Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and other leaders in remembering the victims. “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,” he said.

Referring to the pools, he said: “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.”