On
his first trip to New York, the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff also prayed at
the memorial to those killed in the Sep 11, 2001, attacks in perhaps the most
poignant moment of his first visit to the United States. Addressing
dozens of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, the spiritual head of 1.2
billion Roman Catholics railed against the "grave offense" of
economic and social exclusion. "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," he said. The
first pope from Latin America, Francis has often criticised unbridled
capitalism in the two years of his papacy. On
Friday, he had a high-powered audience at the United Nations, which is celebrating
its 70th anniversary. This
year's General Assembly is believed to have attracted the highest number of
leaders in UN history. The
pontiff urged government leaders to ensure their people enjoy the minimum
material needs. "In
practical terms, this absolute minimum has three names: lodging, labour and
land," Francis said to applause. He
said humanity's future is in danger. "The
ecological crisis and the large-scale destruction of biodiversity can threaten
the very existence of the human species," said Francis, who this year
published the first papal encyclical, a letter to the church, dedicated to the
environment. In
keeping with his reputation as a green pope, Francis has used a small Fiat car
rather than a limousine to get around Washington and Manhattan this week. Francis
underscored an "urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear
weapons" and praised the July agreement reached by the United States and
other world powers to curb Iran's nuclear programme as "proof of the
potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience
and constancy". The
pope also said international financial agencies should work toward "the
sustainable development of countries and should ensure that they are not
subjected to oppressive lending systems" that cause greater poverty,
exclusion and dependence. Palpable grief Francis
led an inter-religious prayer service at the site of the Sep 11 hijacked plane
attacks by al Qaeda Islamist militants that brought down the Twin Towers of the
World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan. It
was the most solemn moment of his first trip to the United States. "Here
grief is palpable," Francis said, after viewing the reflecting pools that
mark the footprints of the Twin Towers. Flanked
by a dozen religious leaders from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and
Greek Orthodox traditions, Francis spoke to a crowd of about 700 people in an
underground gallery. "In
opposing every attempt to create a rigid uniformity, we can and must build
unity on the basis of our diversity of languages, cultures and religions,"
Francis said. The
pope, who arrived in New York on Thursday night, also was serenaded by
schoolchildren during a visit to a Catholic elementary school serving mostly
Latino and black children in the city's East Harlem neighbourhood, speaking
with individual students at Our Lady Queen of Angels School. The
pope then was greeted by large, adoring crowds as he drove in his
"popemobile" through sprawling Central Park before heading to the
famed Madison Square Garden sports arena for an evening Mass. Two
years into his papacy, Francis has won the admiration of many in the United
States, with liberals captivated by his focus on meeting the needs of the poor,
immigrants and the homeless. On
his first US trip, he has also emphasised conservative values and Catholic
teachings on the family. A
day after becoming the first pope to address the US Congress, Francis warned in
his UN speech against imposing Western liberal values on the rest of the world
via "an ideological colonisation by the imposition of anomalous models and
lifestyles". Francis
called on government leaders to fight human trafficking, ban nuclear arms and promote
the education of girls. Among
those in the audience were Cuban President Raul Castro and Malala Yousafzai,
the 18-year-old Pakistani campaigner for girls' rights to schooling. Echoing
concerns he expressed at the White House and Congress this week about the
environment, Francis called for "fundamental and effective
agreements" at climate change talks in Paris in December. The
prospects of a meaningful global climate pact in the French capital have been
boosted by the news that China - one of the world's biggest polluters - will
start a national carbon emissions trading market in 2017. Francis
wraps up his six-day US trip in Philadelphia on Saturday and Sunday with a
Catholic summit of families, a visit to a jail and a large outdoor Mass.