A phone call at Castel Gandolfo

John Paul II learned of the four attacks from Holy See press director Joaquín Navarro-Valls. Shaken, he went straight to the private chapel of the Apostolic Palace to pray.

Six lines in block capitals

His telegram to President George W. Bush used the flat style of official communication, but the words were raw. He called the attacks inhuman and the moment dark and tragic.

“unspeakable horror”

A square with no applause

At the next day's General Audience in St Peter's Square, the Pope asked the crowd not to clap. The faithful stood in silence instead.

“Yesterday was a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity”

Evil does not win

John Paul II voiced the question everyone was carrying: how could anyone commit such savage cruelty? His answer was Christ, who makes sure evil and death never get the last word.

“How is it possible to commit acts of such savage cruelty?”

The future Leo XIV in Rome

American Augustinian Robert Francis Prevost was at his order's General Chapter that week. He was elected Prior General on September 14, his birthday, and preached at the closing Mass.

Poverty feeds the violence

In that homily, Prevost tied the attacks to injustice that keeps spreading. Hatred grows, he said, while millions live in extreme poverty and oppression.

“While many seek revenge, Augustinians must bear witness to the Gospel and to its values of unity, dialogue, peace, and reconciliation.”

Reason and love, one year on

At the General Audience of September 11, 2002, John Paul II recalled the towers falling and the innocent lives lost in the rubble. Violence and war, he said, produce only hatred and death.

“Reason and love are the only valid means for overcoming and resolving disputes between individuals and peoples.”

Benedict kneels at Ground Zero

On April 20, 2008, Benedict XVI lit a candle where the towers stood. Around the void was a construction site, hope being rebuilt, and he asked God for the courage to work for peace.

No cause justifies this

For the tenth anniversary, Benedict wrote to Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. He called it worse still that the attackers claimed to act in God's name, and said every human life is precious.

Water over 2,974 names

At the memorial pools on September 25, 2015, Francis called the attacks a senseless act of destruction. The names of victims from 90 nations line the edges of the two footprints.

“Let us implore from on high the gift of commitment to the cause of peace... Simply peace.”

Not neutral, but for peace

At the 2021 G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, Francis pressed for the ius pacis, everyone's right to settle conflict without violence. History, he warned, will judge us on it.

“No more war, no more against others, no more without others!”