Speakers at a Sept. 11 prayer service on the eve of the opening of the 72nd session of the U.N. General Assembly said the memory of the vibrant lives of the diverse workers at the World Trade Center towers that day 16 years ago and the selfless heroism of those who came to their aid are reflected in the daily challenges of those who strive for unity, tolerance and compassion.
Conflict and drought are threatening more than 20 million people in four countries with the prospect of famine, and the U.N. has called this food crisis the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was formed more than 70 years ago.
The passage of a United Nations treaty banning the possession of nuclear weapons comes at a time when the majority of world’s nations are frustrated with the slow pace of nuclear disarmament. The final tally saw 122 nations voting for the ban.
At a conference being held at the U.N. headquarters in New York March 27-31, a message from Pope Francis was sent to Elayne Whyte Gomez, president of the U.N. Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards Their Total Elimination.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations, called on all nations to recognize the responsibility to care for and share water because it is a life-sustaining resource.
The United Nations is preparing to embark on talks to ban nuclear weapons.
Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and once known as its jewel, sits in rubble, but more tragically so do its people.
The U.N. Security Council has brought new attention to a 20-year-old treaty that would ban nuclear weapons testing, but still has not gone into effect.
