Pope calls for action on climate, end to warfare, in address to UN

September 25, 2015

Pope Francis praised the work of the UN, urged action to combat climate change, and pleaded for an end to war, in a September 25 address to the international body.

Speaking in Spanish, the Pope also condemned human trafficking and the trade in narcotics, applauded the nuclear pact with Iran, and called attention to the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq.

Pope Francis told his audience of international diplomats that a “true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.” He devoted much of his speech to the environment, linking environmental problems with poverty, arguing that “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.”

“Any harm done to the environment is harm done to humanity,” the Pontiff said. He called for action to protect creation, emphasizing in particular his hope that “fundamental and effective agreements” will emerge from the Paris Conference on Climate Change.

Care for the environment, the Pope added, must include “respect for the sacredness of every human life.” He urged world leaders to support healthy family life, mentioning in particular “the primary right of the family to educate its children.”

The Pope sounded the theme of ecology even in his dramatic call for an end to war. “War,” he said, “is the negation of all rights and a dramatic assault on the environment.” He encouraged the UN to work to establish “the uncontested rule of law and tireless recourse to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.” He went on to rue the “proliferation of arms, especially weapons of mass destruction,” and called for more “work for a world free of nuclear weapons.”

At the outset of his talk, Pope Francis said that he, like his predecessors in the papacy, strongly supported the work of the UN. He said that the international body is an “essential response” to the growth of world powers “capable of perpetrating tremendous atrocities.” The work of the UN has been fruitful, he said:

Without claiming to be exhaustive, we can mention the codification and development of international law, the establishment of international norms regarding human rights, advances in humanitarian law, the resolution of numerous conflicts, operations of peace-keeping and reconciliation, and any number of other accomplishments in every area of international activity and endeavor.

In an obvious reference to the continued bloodshed in Syria—and a continuation of the Vatican’s longstanding critique of unilateral American military action in the Middle East—the Pope said that “hard evidence is not lacking of the negative effects of military and political interventions which are not coordinated between members of the international community.” In that context he said:

I must renew my repeated appeals regarding to the painful situation of the entire Middle East, North Africa and other African countries, where Christians, together with other cultural or ethnic groups, and even members of the majority religion who have no desire to be caught up in hatred and folly, have been forced to witness the destruction of their places of worship, their cultural and religious heritage, their houses and property, and have faced the alternative either of fleeing or of paying for their adhesion to good and to peace by their own lives, or by enslavement.

During his visit to UN headquarters the Pope also spoke with members of the UN staff, thanking them for their contribution to the work of the international body. Saluting them as “the backbone of this organization,” he encouraged them to respect each other, cooperate, and work “not only for justice, but in a spirit of justice.”

The September 25 speech was the 5th papal address to the UN. Pope Paul VI was the first Pontiff to speak to the world body, in 1965. St. John Paul II visited the UN in 1979 and again in 1995, and Pope Benedict XVI spoke in 2008.

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis addresses the UN General Assembly (Vatican Radio-- includes full text)
• People come first, human life is sacred, pope insists at U.N. (CNS)
• Pope Francis thanks UN personnel, tells them to care for one another (Vatican Radio)
• Pope, at U.N., criticizes greed at expense of world's poor (Reuters)