A link to the text. His main speech while he was in the United States. We've excerpted some below the link, with four highlights in blue. If you hit the link below the picture, it takes about 10-12 minutes for a careful read.
The picture, from the Mass at Madison Square Garden.
"The Pope gave a powerful, wide-ranging talk"
The work of the United Nations ... can be seen as the development and promotion of the rule of law, based on the realization that justice is an essential condition for achieving the ideal of universal fraternity. In this context, it is helpful to recall that the limitation of power is an idea implicit in the concept of law itself. ... Yet today’s world presents us with many false rights and – at the same time – broad sectors which are vulnerable...
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...In effect, a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged, either because they are differently abled (handicapped), or because they lack adequate information and technical expertise, or are incapable of decisive political action. Economic and social exclusion is a complete denial of human fraternity and a grave offense against human rights and the environment. The poorest are those who suffer most from such offenses ... They are part of today’s widespread and quietly growing “culture of waste”.
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Our world demands of all government leaders a will which is effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion, with its baneful consequences: human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labour, including prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime. Such is the magnitude of these situations and their toll in innocent lives, that we must avoid every temptation to fall into a declarationist nominalism which would assuage our consciences. We need to ensure that our institutions are truly effective in the struggle against all these scourges.
"...the marketing of human organs and tissues ..." Is Planned Parenthood listening?
Integral human development and the full exercise of human dignity cannot be imposed. They must be built up and allowed to unfold for each individual, for every family, in communion with others, and in a right relationship with all those areas in which human social life develops – friends, communities, towns and cities, schools, businesses and unions, provinces, nations, etc. This presupposes and requires the right to education – also for girls (excluded in certain places) – which is ensured first and foremost by respecting and reinforcing the primary right of the family to educate its children, as well as the right of churches and social groups to support and assist families in the education of their children.
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... An ethics and a law based on the threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind – are self-contradictory and an affront to the entire framework of the United Nations, which would end up as “nations united by fear and distrust”. There is urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, in full application of the non-proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.
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... while regretting to have to do so, I must renew my repeated appeals regarding to the painful situation of the entire Middle East, North Africa and other African countries, where Christians, together with other cultural or ethnic groups, and even members of the majority religion who have no desire to be caught up in hatred and folly, have been forced to witness the destruction of their places of worship, their cultural and religious heritage, their houses and property, and have faced the alternative either of fleeing or of paying for their adhesion to good and to peace by their own lives, or by enslavement.
These realities should serve as a grave summons to an examination of conscience on the part of those charged with the conduct of international affairs. Not only in cases of religious or cultural persecution, but in every situation of conflict, as in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan and the Great Lakes region, real human beings take precedence over partisan interests, however legitimate the latter may be. In wars and conflicts there are individual persons, our brothers and sisters, men and women, young and old, boys and girls who weep, suffer and die. Human beings who are easily discarded when our only response is to draw up lists of problems, strategies and disagreements.
Powerful words on the disasters in the Middle East.
The common home of all men and women must continue to rise on the foundations of a right understanding of universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic. This common home of all men and women must also be built on the understanding of a certain sacredness of created nature.
Well worth hitting the link above and reading the entire address.
Excellent,here in the U.S. we showed Pope Francis an outpouring of love because he gave love... '' God's Love'' Our world and national problems are at a level were we all must do our part down to the individual person in whatever way he or she can... Yet the real litmus test will be if Catholics start from today to go back to the Sacrament of Confession and the Holy Mass and all other faith's honor the tenants of their faith as well...
Posted by: Peter Lepre | September 28, 2015 at 11:53 PM
Once you lose respect for LIFE in the womb, then you lose all respect for ALL LIFE and we see that happening in this pivotal battle of Goodness versus evil. Pope Francis knows protecting that precious gift is the success to the existence of that very nation.
Posted by: Eileen Peterson | October 02, 2015 at 12:34 PM
Wonderfully done. Pope Francis speaking in his own words clearly defends all people, from the moment of conception. We need to amplify this truth.
Posted by: Christopher Bell | October 06, 2015 at 01:01 AM