A renewed call for world peace was issued Sunday by Pope Leo XIV, history’s first American pontiff, as he commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 Islamic terrorist attacks on his home country with a call to prayer for those innocents who paid with their lives.
AP reports the Chicago-born pope made his first public comments to commemorate the anniversary, speaking in English at the end of his traditional Sunday noon blessing from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. Leo said:
Two days ago marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States of America.
I renew my prayers for those who lost their lives and for those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day.
He added, “at a time when conflict and violence afflict so many of our brothers and sisters, I invite everyone to pray that the Lord will bestow his gift of peace upon the world.”
Speaking in Italian he added: “The memory of the tragic events of 25 years ago pushes us to renew our commitment to peace, above all with prayer.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, the erstwhile Robert Prevost was in Rome attending a big assembly of his Augustinian religious order.
At the time, he was the Chicago provincial leader of the Augustinians. Prevost was elected superior of the entire order on Sept. 14, his birthday, a position he held for two consecutive terms until 2012.
Vatican News on Sunday republished excerpts of his first homily as superior, delivered on Sept. 21, 2001. In it, the man who would be a future American pope reflected on the terrorist attacks.
“We cannot fail to remember the tragic events that shook the United States on Sept. 11,” he said in his homily. “The violence that the world witnessed last week in the United States is a tragic expression of a series of problems that are becoming increasingly acute everywhere.
“Hatred and violence will continue to grow as long as so many people are forced to live in extreme poverty and are oppressed by so many forms of injustice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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