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Day by Day
Pope John Paul II sent a telegram of condolence to President Bush, promising
his prayers for the victims of the terror attacks and condemning the
“unspeakable horror” of the mass killings.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the Holy Father was
“informed instantly” when news of the attacks reached Rome, during the evening
hours there. The Pope immediately turned to prayer for the victims and their
families, he said. He added that the Pope quickly wrote his personal message to
President Bush, voicing his “unspeakable horror at this terrorist attack against
innocent persons,” and saying that he would pray for the American nation “during
these dark and tragic moments.” The Pope indicated that he would pray especially
for “the protection of those who are at work helping the victims,” and for “the
President and the American people in these hours of suffering.”
In a Vatican Radio broadcast, the station’s director, Father Federico
Lombardi, said that “one cannot find the words” to express the impact of “one of
the bloodiest attacks of our era.”
The Catholic bishops of South Africa expressed “utter disgust and horror” at
the acts of terrorism, and solidarity with the victims. The Southern African
Catholic Bishops’ Conference said, “The willful and premeditated destruction of
any life is the most abhorrent act that any human being can commit. But when
tens of thousands of innocent lives are deliberately destroyed, maimed, or put
at risk, no condemnation is severe enough.”
The executive committee of the Chilean bishops’ conference suspended a
monthly business meeting to pray for the American victims, and issued a short
statement of sympathy “for the thousands of victims and their relatives in this
painful situation.”
The Latin-rite Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, affirmed that “the
churches in the Holy Land are close to the people of America with prayers,
asking God to grant them hope at this difficult time.” And Father Pierre Grech,
a spokesman for the Conference of Latin Bishops in the Arab Region, voiced the
prayer “that this terrifying event will shake the leaders and people in Israel
and Palestine to take the path to dialogue and peace.”
In India, Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios, the president of the nation’s
episcopal conference, wrote to the US ambassador to express the “utter shock and
grief” felt by the Catholic community, and asked “that our sympathies and
concern for all the people of the United States will be forwarded to the
concerned authorities in the United States of America.”
Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru, sent personal letters of
condolence to American Cardinals Bernard Law of Boston, Edward Egan of New York,
and Theodore McCarrick of Washington, promising the prayers of Peruvian
Catholics for the victims in the terrorist attack.
Archbishop Román Arrieta Villalobos of San Jose, Costa Rica, called for two
full days of mourning in that Central American country and for all Catholic
churches to remain open 24 hours per day to allow Costa Ricans to pray for the
victims and for peace. The country’s President Miguel Angel Rodriguez concurred
with that sentiment and officially declared September 12 and 13 as national days
of mourning.
The US bishops’ conference called September 11 “a day of national tragedy.”
They called for prayer for the victims, their families, and rescuers. They also
offered prayer “for those whose hatred has become so great that they are willing
to engage in crimes against our common humanity. May they realize, at last, that
such violence creates not justice but greater injustice.”
In a rare departure from his usual practice, Pope John Paul II devoted his
regular Wednesday public audience to a discussion of the terror attack on the
United States. Setting aside the catechetical talk which he would ordinarily
have delivered, the Holy Father remarked that September 11 had been “a dark day
in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity.” In another
departure from the usual pattern of these public audiences, the crowd was silent
and somber throughout the Pope’s appearance; there was no applause.
The Pontiff opened his remarks by saying, “I cannot begin this audience
without expressing my profound sorrow at the terrorist attacks which yesterday
brought death and destruction to America, causing thousands of victims and
injuring countless people. To the President of the United States and to all
American citizens I express my heartfelt sorrow.”
As he concluded his brief remarks, the Pope made another departure from his
usual habits by offering a special “prayer of the faithful” against terrorism.
He prayed for the Church throughout the world, but especially in the United
States. And he prayed that world leaders, “not allowing themselves to be
dominated by hatred and the spirit of retaliation, do everything possible to
keep weapons of destruction from sowing new hatred and new death and strive to
bring light to the darkness of human affairs with works of peace.”
Humanitarian agencies began evacuating employees from Afghanistan following
the terrorist attacks. The UN ordered all 80 of its non-Afghani employees out of
Afghanistan, transporting the workers to Pakistan. Twelve of the International
Red Cross’s 70 employees also left.
Today America has a special responsibility as a world leader, the Pope said.
However, that leadership cannot be properly exercised in a moral vacuum. The
Pontiff pointed to the “spiritual roots of the crisis which the Western
democracies are experiencing, a crisis characterized by the advance of a
materialistic, utilitarian, and ultimately dehumanized world view which is
tragically detached from the moral foundations of Western civilizations.”
The Vatican’s representative at the United Nations said that the struggle
against terrorism is impeded because “too many countries take the liberty of
turning away, attending to their own interests.” Archbishop Renato Martino —who
serves as “permanent observer” at the UN on behalf of the Vatican—told the Fides
news service that in the face of international terrorism, “No one can stand and
watch. Sooner or later every country must be involved.”
The archbishop, who was on his way to the opening meeting of the General
Assembly when the planes struck, said that he had seen the collapse of the World
Trade Center towers, and also observed the generous reaction of volunteer relief
workers. The people of New York “soon began to compete in solidarity” by
donating blood and searching for survivors, he remarked.
As reporters began to piece together the many dramatic stories that had
unfolded on September 11, the Port Authority of New York revealed that New
York’s police and fire departments had put out an urgent call for Catholic
priests to attend to the spiritual needs of rescue workers. Firefighters and
policemen working near the World Trade Center were granted general absolution
and last rites, several sources said. Witnesses said that the rescue workers
clearly understood that they faced a real danger of imminent death.
British religious leaders of many different traditions joined forces to
express their horror at the attacks. In a joint statement, Catholics,
Protestants, Muslims, and Jews said, “We believe that it is vital, amid so much
anguish and suffering, to nourish all that we hold in common and to resist all
that would drive us apart.”
Argentinean President Fernando de la Rúa, as well as other top government
officials joined a mass ecumenical prayer for the US victims of terror attacks
staged at the Plaza de la Republica, the largest square in Buenos Aires. An
estimated 30,000 Argentineans gathered in a prayer vigil convened by Cardinal
Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires—whose initiative was promptly endorsed by
Evangelical, Orthodox, Jewish, and Muslim leaders.
Officials of the Roman Curia and all other Vatican employees broke off their
work schedules, joining the American people in prayer. In the offices of each
Congregation and Pontifical Council, clerics and lay employees together prayed
the Angelus, then observed a minute of silent prayer.
On Thursday night, about 2,000 people had attended a prayer vigil organized
by the Rome diocese in the parish of the Holy Angels, near the Piazza Navona in
the center of the city. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s vicar for Rome, had
issued an invitation to the faithful to pray for peace, and many
people—especially Americans living or visiting in Rome—responded by visiting the
church, which remained open and crowded well into the night.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines organized a novena of prayer for the
victims of the terrorist attack and for peace and justice in the world.
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, president of the Catholic bishops’ conference, sent
a communiqué to all Filipino bishops urging them to launch prayer initiatives in
their respective dioceses. Back to Catholic Infromation
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How Catholic leaders responded
in the first days after the terrorist attack.
“Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faithless coward,” said US
President George W. Bush. “Freedom will be defended.” He also promised that the
full resources of the United States would be used to “hunt down and punish”
those responsible.
The leaders of the four main Christian churches in Ireland—Catholic, Anglican
(Church of Ireland), Presbyterian, and Methodist—extended their “love and
sympathy to all the people of the US, and more especially to those who have been
injured or have lost family and friends.” Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh sent a
telegram to Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, saying the attack was “directed
not only against the innocent, but against all of civilization and humanity.”
Two days after the attack, as he accepted the diplomatic credentials of a new
American ambassador, James Nicholson, Pope John Paul II observed, “You begin
your mission at a moment of immense tragedy for your country.” The Pope went on:
“I pray that this inhuman act will awaken in the hearts of all the world’s
peoples a firm resolve to reject the ways of violence, to combat everything that
sows hatred and division within the human family.”
President Bush proclaimed a national day of prayer and remembrance on Friday. At
the National Cathedral in Washington, he gathered with the whole membership of
the US Congress, four previous presidents, and a multitude of the powerful and
mighty of the body politic for prayer. The Rev. Billy Graham delivered a sermon,
saying: “Today, we say to those who masterminded this cruel plot and to those
who carried it out, the spirit of this nation will not be defeated by their
twisted and diabolical schemes.”