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UN Secretary-General honors Pope Francis as advocate for migrants, poor and climate action
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Summary
At a United Nations session, the Secretary-General delivered a eulogy for Pope Francis, highlighting the pope's advocacy for refugees, criticism of indifference and links between social justice and environmental protection.
The Secretary-General addressed the United Nations to mourn Pope Francis and to highlight the late pontiff's work on behalf of marginalized people, refugees and the environment.
The Secretary-General said Pope Francis was “a man of faith and a bridge builder among all faith” and quoted the pope’s 2015 address to the United Nations calling for “a united human family living in harmony, working not only for peace, but in peace.”
The remarks outlined key themes of Pope Francis’s public ministry: service to the poor from his early years in Buenos Aires, a focus on migrants and refugees, and sustained attention to climate and social justice. The Secretary-General noted that Pope Francis’s 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti drew connections “between greed and poverty, hunger, inequality, and suffering,” and warned against “the globalization of indifference.”
The Secretary-General recalled Pope Francis’s 2013 visit to the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa to spotlight the plight of asylum seekers and migrants, and said the pope repeatedly urged countries “to welcome, promote, accompany, and integrate those who knock on our doors.” He also described personal gestures the pope made for people in conflict zones, including daily phone calls to the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City to ask, “how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?”
On environment and climate, the Secretary-General credited the pope’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si with helping to highlight links between environmental degradation and human suffering and said it influenced the adoption of the Paris Agreement by urging leaders to “protect our common home.”
Speaking of the funeral and public reaction, the Secretary-General said he was “deeply moved to see leaders of all religions and political colors unite in solidarity to honor the life and achievements of Pope Francis,” and urged delegates to carry forward “this torch of hope.”
The remarks concluded with an appeal to renew commitments to peace, human dignity and social justice — causes the Secretary-General said had animated Pope Francis’s public life.
