Pope prays at 9 / 11 site after UN speech

Pope Francis led prayers for peace at an emotional visit to the 9/11 Memorial in New York after calling for a more humane global system at the United Nations on Friday.

The head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics paid tribute to the victims and those who responded to the worst attacks on US soil that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.

The 78-year-old Argentine spoke to relatives of victims and first responders who fell in service, before leading a multi-faith prayer for world peace and a somber moment of silence.

"In this place of pain and remembrance I am full of hope because of the opportunity of joining the leaders representing so many religious traditions in the life of this great city," he said.

"I hope our presence here sends a powerful sign of our wish to share and reaffirm the wish to be forces of reconciliation, forces of peace, of justice," he told a gathering of 700.

Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Greek Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish leaders also offered meditations from the rostrum.

It was the second engagement on a packed schedule Friday for the visibly exhausted pope, 78, whose reform-minded approach and humility has earned him a rapturous welcome in America.

Earlier in the day, he went to the UN General Assembly to offer his vision of a better world, calling on the UN Security Council and financial lenders to "limit every kind of abuse and usury."

In a wide-ranging speech, Francis touched on an array of hot-button topics, including the persecution of Christians, the Iran nuclear deal, drug trafficking -- "silently killing millions" -- and the rights of girls to an education.

"The international financial agencies should care for the sustainable development of countries and should ensure that they are not subjected to oppressive lending systems which, far from promoting progress, subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence," Francis said.

- 'Selfish thirst for power' -

Francis, the first Latin American pope, has seen his own country suffer economic crises that have fueled criticism of conditions set by the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.

He also gave his latest passionate plea to protect the environment, as he voiced confidence that a looming UN summit on climate change would reach "effective" agreement in Paris.

He said the universe was "the fruit of a loving decision by the Creator" and that humanity "is not authorized to abuse it, much less to destroy it."

"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.

Francis made his latest plea for the protection of Christians, as well as others, persecuted by extremists in Syria and Iraq.

The pope offered a strong endorsement of Iran's agreement with the United States and five other world powers to limit its nuclear program, a day after Francis spoke to the US Congress, where many lawmakers vehemently oppose the deal.

"I express my hope that this agreement will be lasting and efficacious, and bring forth the desired fruits with the cooperation of all the parties involved," he said.

- 'Man and woman' -

Francis reserved some of his strongest words for drug trafficking, a scourge in Latin America in particular.

"Drug trafficking is by its very nature accompanied by trafficking in persons, money laundering, the arms trade, child exploitation and other forms of corruption," he said.

Francis, who was selected as pope in 2013, has an avid following even among non-Catholics for his embrace of causes such as climate change and his reform-minded approach to social issues.

In what has perhaps become his most famous remark, Francis said early in his papacy of gay priests, "Who am I to judge?"

But at the United Nations, he signaled that the Church was not ready to champion transgender rights, an issue of growing importance in the United States as gay equality becomes mainstream.

"We recognize a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman and absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions."

In a possible allusion to same-sex marriage, Francis warned against an "ideological colonization by the imposition of anomalous models and lifestyles which are alien to people's identity and, in the end, irresponsible."

Francis has enjoyed a remarkably warm response in the United States, with President Barack Obama welcoming him personally on Wednesday and championing the pontiff's leadership.

Just as they had in Washington, large crowds of well-wishers lined the partially closed streets of New York, waving Vatican flags and holding signs to welcome Francis.

The pope later Friday will deliver a mass to thousands at New York's Madison Square Garden.

On Saturday he heads to Philadelphia, where he will greet huge crowds at the Festival of Families, a Catholic gathering that takes place every three years.

Source: AFP