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Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, April 18, 2008, urged the members to ensure protection of fundamental Human Rights. The religious head was welcomed at the UN headquarters in New York by the organization’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized on collective actions to solve world problems. He further stressed that ‘multilateral consensus’ is in ‘crisis’ as the decisions are still taken by a select powerful few.
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon showed his gratitude to the religious head, thanking him to have accepted the invitation to visit the UN. In a speech half in French and half in English, the Pope asserted that every state has a primary duty to protect its own people from grave and sustained human rights abuses.
The papal visits to the United Nations includes a visit by Pope Paul VI in 1965 and then later twice by Pope John Paul II in 1979 and 1995. Pope Benedict XVI was received in a warm welcome at the UN headquarters, where UN International school choir sang for the revered religious head. He will finally return to Rome on Sunday, before which he will visit the site of World Trade Centre attack, a Jewish Synagogue in the city and celebrate mass at the Yankee stadium in New York.
