9/11 anniversary: Pope Francis' visit to Ground Zero

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visited the Ground Zero memorial at the World Trade Center in New York on September 25^th, 2015. During the course of his visit to the memorial site, the Holy Father offered a prayer of remembrance for the nearly 3 thousand victims of the attacks committed by terrorists belonging to the Islamic Al Qaeda terror network. 

Click below to hear our retrospective report

“God of peace,” the Holy Father prayed, “bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth.”

Pope Francis set a white rose at the edge of one of the two enormous infinity pools, around which the names of those who died in the attacks are etched in stone.

He met the family members of some of the victims, including surviving members of the families of some of the hundreds of first responders who perished in their efforts to rescue the innocent and succor the injured."

In his address to a gathering of leaders from different religions and traditions of faith at the memorial site, Pope Francis described Ground Zero as a place where “we shed tears” and mourn those who were the victims of a “mindset that knows only violence, hatred and revenge.”

He said, “We can and must build unity on the basis of our diversity of languages, cultures and religions.” He told those present that we are called to resist every attempt to poison and destroy our relations, and to work together to strengthen our human family in respect for legitimate differences and in a spirit of reconciled diversity.