Papal address to the U N Assembly on the 70th anniversary of the
U N;
First the pope spoke with U N staff including the humblest office workers praising them.
Then addressed the Assembly recalling his predecessors.
Called for working for peace though diplomacy and he spoke against the arms race. He welcomed the diplomacy which had achieved the Iranian nuclear weapons agreement.
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Affirmed human dignity and called for all to have the minimum needed to support a family.
Called the boundless thirst for power and material wealth “selfish”, and spoke against the seeking of prosperity to the exclusion of the weak and powerless.
Called for respect for human life “..at all its stages” Special reference was made of youth and the elderly and he made a call for the education of girls. ( He did not mention the word “abortion”, contrary to claims by the BBC. )
He spoke against the misuse and destruction of the environment and against usury and the abuse of the poor
He spoke against drug and human trafficking
He used the term “ ideological colonisation”, to describe how some are seeking to insert their own ideological agenda into U N treaties.
(An example would be the term “reproductive health” meaning legal abortion, and “gender equality”, encompasses gay marriage. They have so far been kept out of the new “Global Development Goals.” )