Benedict XVI Prays at Ground Zero By Sewell Chan April 20, 2008 The Pope and Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of New York, at Ground Zero. Pope Benedict XVI knelt and prayed at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan this morning, blessing the site where more than 2,600 people were killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center more than six years ago. The Pontiff offered a prayer to God for peace, mentioning the attacks on 9/11 on the Pentagon in Washington and on a jetliner that crashed near Shanksville, Pa. He made only one, indirect, reference to terror: “Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.” The Pope made no other public remarks during his half-hour visit to the site, but offered private words of comfort to survivors who were injured and relatives of victims who were killed in the attacks. Gov. David A. Paterson and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York were already at Ground Zero when the pope arrived at 9:31 a.m. as was Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey. The visit has particular significance for many survivors of 9/11, and relatives of victims who died in the World Trade Center, because a large proportion of those who died were Catholic. The Rev. Mychal F. Judge, a beloved Catholic chaplain for the Fire Department who died from falling debris on 9/11 and was listed as victim No. 1 by the city chief medical examiner’s office, has become a larger-than-life figure for some. Pope John Paul II, Benedict’s predecessor, condemned the 9/11 attacks as an “unspeakable horror” on the day they occurred. Pope Benedict, who was the church’s top theologian before he was elected in 2005, has suggested that in an age of terrorism inspired by extremism, his church is a middle ground between godless rationalism and religious fundamentalism. The service was held at the bottom of the giant construction ramp that goes into the construction site for the new towers rising at ground zero. (Construction has been suspended for the papal visit.) The papal motorcade, which had left the residence of the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations moments earlier, traveled about halfway down the ramp. The Pope and Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the archbishop of New York, exited the Popemobile at 9:42 a.m. and walked the rest of the way down the ramp alone. The Pope wore a white overcoat — today’s temperature in New York is somewhat colder than that of the past two days. At 9:43 a.m., the Pope knelt before a pool of water and a candle, offering a silent prayer for about two minutes. Then, with assistance from two clerical aides, he lighted a candle — apparently with a little bit of difficulty at first, perhaps because of technical problems. The Pope offered this prayer: O God of love, compassion, and healing, look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions, who gather today at this site, the scene of incredible violence and pain. We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here— the heroic first-responders: our fire fighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel, along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy simply because their work or service brought them here on September 11, 2001. We ask you, in your compassion to bring healing to those who, because of their presence here that day, suffer from injuries and illness. Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy. Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope. We are mindful as well of those who suffered death, injury, and loss on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Our hearts are one with theirs as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering. God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth. Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred. God of understanding, overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy, we seek your light and guidance as we confront such terrible events. Grant that those whose lives were spared may live so that the lives lost here may not have been lost in vain. Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all. Following the prayer, the Pope used as aspergillum to sprinkle holy water in four directions, blessing the site. Then guests approached the Pope individually for brief private exchanges; many of them knelt briefly before the Pontiff and kissed his ring. One representative each from the families of 16 people who died in the World Trade Center attack were selected [drawn by lot] — from among more than 1,100 applicants — for a chance to be present and meet with the Pontiff. As each person approached the Pontiff, Cardinal Egan read the person’s name. Carter Brey, the principal cellist for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, played an elegiac musical selection to accompany the prayer service and meetings. The Pope also spoke briefly to Mayor Bloomberg and Governors Corzine and Paterson. At 10:02 a.m., after making the sign of the Cross, the Pope walked back to the Popemobile and boarded the vehicle. There is little doubt that 9/11 also had an impact on the thinking of Benedict, who at the time was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the church’s top theologian. Russell Shorto tried to describe the Pope’s thinking in a cover article for The New York Times Magazine in April 2007: The mistaken conviction that reason and faith are two distinct realms has weakened Europe and has brought it to the verge of catastrophic collapse. As he said in a speech in 2004: “There exist pathologies in religion that are extremely dangerous and that make it necessary to see the divine light of reason as a ‘controlling organ.’ . . . However . . . there are also pathologies of reason . . . there is a hubris of reason that is no less dangerous.” If you seek a way out of the vast post-9/11 quagmire (Baghdad bomb blasts, Iranian nukes, Danish cartoons, ever-more-bizarre airport security measures and the looming mayhem they are meant to stop), and for that matter if you believe in Europe and “the West” (the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, the whole heritage of 2,500 years of history), then now, Benedict in effect argues, the Catholic Church must be heeded. Because its tradition was filtered through the Enlightenment, the thinking goes, the church can provide a bridge between godless rationality and religious fundamentalism. One of the World Trade Center survivors who had a chance to meet the Pope was George Bachmann, a retired firefighter. On 9/11, he was rescued from West Street, between Vesey and Liberty Streets, and taken in New Jersey with a broken back and burns. He received a citation from the Fire Department and eventually received money from the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which he used to buy a house in Brooklyn with his wife. “Being in front of the holy father hits me deep down inside,” Mr. Bachmann, who was raised Catholic, told NY1 News in a televised interview. “I didn’t really have anything to say to him. Being in his presence was enough for me.” He described the papal visit as an important step in the “healing process for both myself and the families.” Pope Benedict XVI blesses the site where more than 2,600 people were killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center more than six years ago.
The mistaken conviction that reason and faith are two distinct realms has weakened Europe and has brought it to the verge of catastrophic collapse. As he said in a speech in 2004: “There exist pathologies in religion that are extremely dangerous and that make it necessary to see the divine light of reason as a ‘controlling organ.’ . . . However . . . there are also pathologies of reason . . . there is a hubris of reason that is no less dangerous.” If you seek a way out of the vast post-9/11 quagmire (Baghdad bomb blasts, Iranian nukes, Danish cartoons, ever-more-bizarre airport security measures and the looming mayhem they are meant to stop), and for that matter if you believe in Europe and “the West” (the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, the whole heritage of 2,500 years of history), then now, Benedict in effect argues, the Catholic Church must be heeded. Because its tradition was filtered through the Enlightenment, the thinking goes, the church can provide a bridge between godless rationality and religious fundamentalism.