Pope Francis to diplomats: from the ashes of war to the UN

(Vatican Radio) Veronica Scarisbrick presents a feature in which she brings you the words of Pope Francis relating to Blessed Paul VI pronouncing in French his well-known appeal for peace when he addressed the United Nations Assembly in New York in October 1965 as well as the witness of the late Cardinal John Patrick Foley who attended this event.

Listen to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick: 

In his annual address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See on Monday 12th of January Pope Francis referred to the devastation of the Second World War as he mentioned Hiroshima. The 6th of August 1945, he said, for the first time in a new and unprecedented way, the world experienced the full potential of man’s destructive power.

Francis then added how it was from the ashes of the Second World War that the United Nations Organisation, whose seventieth anniversary we celebrate this year, was born. He then referred to the first visit of a Roman Pontiff to New York’s UN headquarters fifty years ago with which Blessed Paul VI paved the way for the popes who would succeed him. In fact both Saint John Paul II and our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI followed suit.

It was an occasion, Pope Francis remarked to the diplomats gathered around him,during which Paul VI referred to : “the blood of millions, countless unheard-of sufferings, useless massacres and frightening ruins have sanctioned the agreement that unites you with an oath that ought to change the future of the world: never again war, never again war! It is peace, peace that has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind”.  

It is likewise my own hope-filled prayer for this New Year, Pope Francis said finally,which, for that matter, will see the continuation of two significant processes: the drawing up of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, with the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals, and the drafting of a new Climate Change Agreement. The indispensable presupposition of all these is peace, he highlighted which, even more than an end to all wars, is the fruit of heartfelt conversion.