Pope holds interfaith 'Witness to Peace' at Ground Zero

(Vatican Radio) On Friday, after his visit to the United Nations in New York, Pope Francis travels across town to the Ground Zero memorial for an interfaith encounter with leaders of the country’s main religious communities. The Pope visited t the museum and outdoor pools commemorating the nearly 3.000 victims of the terror attacks of September 11th 2001. He also laid a wreath and met with victims’ families before taking part in a ‘Witness to Peace’ prayer service with Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and other Christian leaders

To find out more about the event, Philippa Hitchen talked to Fr John Crossin who heads the U.S. bishops’ secretariat for ecumenical and interreligious affairs…

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Fr John says the Ground Zero memorial is a very significant place because of what happened in 2001 and it continues to be “an important part of the American psyche”. He says that event is “a benchmark with a great deal of personal and communal significance” and he hopes the presence of the Pope praying there for peace with other religious leaders will “bring personal healing to people still suffering from that day and also communal healing of rifts that were created between groups on that day”.

Fr John says the U.S. has an ongoing history of racial tensions which are deep rooted “and likewise with the divisions and injuries created at 9/11”, he says, “it’s important to keep working on it”. This event at Ground Zero, he believes, is an important “part of a process of healing and reconciliation”, both personal and communal.