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STORY: UN / POPE FRANCIS TRIBUTE
TRT: 04:51
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 APRIL 202, NEW YORK CITY
1. Various shots, United Nations flag being raised at half-mast in honour of Pope Francis outside UN Headquarters
2. Wide shot, General Assembly
3. Various shots, minute of silence
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Philémon Yang, President, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA):
“To the faithful around the world, Pope Francis was more than the leader of the Catholic Church. He was a moral voice and a global conscience. With humility and courage, he championed the dignity of the marginalised, the poor and the voiceless.”
5. Wide shot, General Assembly dais
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Philémon Yang, President, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA):
“He reminded us that the pursuit of common good must guide all our actions, whether in politics, economics or diplomacy. He urged all nations to rise above self-interest, and to act in solidarity with future generations. His Holiness never ceased to remind us that human dignity is a collective responsibility.”
7. Various shots, Secretary-General António Guterres at the GA rostrum
8. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“On behalf of our UN family, I extend by deepest condolences to the Catholic community and to so many others around the world grieving this tremendous loss. Excellencies, Pope Francis was at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church for a dozen years — but that was preceded by decades of service and good works. As a young man, Pope Francis found his calling in the slums of Buenos Aires, where his dedication to serving the poor earned him the title Bishop of the Slums. These early experiences sharpened his conviction that faith must be an engine of action and change. Pope Francis put that engine into overdrive as an unstoppable voice for social justice and equality.”
9. Wide shot, Guterres at the rostrum
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“He stood with conviction for innocents caught in war zones such as Ukraine and Gaza. He did it with his global platform — but he also did it in much more personal and profound ways. Every day without fail, precisely at 7:00 p.m., he would quietly call the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. As someone at the Church said, ‘He would ask us how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?’ It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation. It was the questions a father asks to their son.”
11. Wide shot, Holly See representative Archbishop Gabriele Caccia walks up to rostrum
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Holy See:
“The best way we can commemorate Pope Francis today is to take that torch of hope and rediscover the spirit which 80 years ago created this organisation, so that together we can all work to end on a better world to the generations that will come after us.”
13. Wide shot, Argentine Ambassador Fabián Oddone walks up to rostrum
14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Fabián Oddone, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Argentina
“Pope Francis was a spiritual leader whose passing humanity is mourning. He was also a beacon who illuminated the human dignity of which he was such a staunch defender, particularly that human dignity that shone through the eyes of those most forgotten, marginalised unborn children who suffered as a result of the scourge of abortion. Older people, who were the victims of carelessness when euthanasia was placed on the table as an option. Women who suffer trafficking and exploitation or children put up for sale as a result of surrogacy and those who suffer the denials of their freedom and thought and religion rights so threatened for so many victims of bombs dropped or attacks conducted on religious grounds throughout the world.”
15. Wide shot, GA
On behalf of the UN family, Secretary-General António Guterres today (29 Apr) extended “deepest condolences to the Catholic community and to so many others around the world grieving this tremendous loss.”
At a tribute ceremony at the General Assembly Hall, GA President Philémon Yang said, “to the faithful around the world, Pope Francis was more than the leader of the Catholic Church. He was a moral voice and a global conscience. With humility and courage, he championed the dignity of the marginalised, the poor and the voiceless.”
Yang said, Pope Francis “reminded us that the pursuit of common good must guide all our actions, whether in politics, economics or diplomacy” and had “urged all nations to rise above self-interest, and to act in solidarity with future generations.”
He said, “His Holiness never ceased to remind us that human dignity is a collective responsibility.”
Guterres recalled that as a young man, “Pope Francis found his calling in the slums of Buenos Aires, where his dedication to serving the poor earned him the title Bishop of the Slums.”
These early experiences, he said, “sharpened his conviction that faith must be an engine of action and change,” and “put that engine into overdrive as an unstoppable voice for social justice and equality.
The Secretary-General said Pope Francis “stood with conviction for innocents caught in war zones such as Ukraine and Gaza.”
He recalled that “every day without fail, precisely at 7:00 p.m., he would quietly call the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. As someone at the Church said, ‘He would ask us how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?’ It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation. It was the questions a father asks to their son.”
The representative of the Holy See, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia told the General Assembly that “the best way we can commemorate Pope Francis today is to take that torch of hope and rediscover the spirit which 80 years ago created this organisation, so that together we can all work to end on a better world to the generations that will come after us.”
For his part, Argentine Ambassador Fabián Oddone said, “Pope Francis was a spiritual leader whose passing humanity is mourning. He was also a beacon who illuminated the human dignity of which he was such a staunch defender, particularly that human dignity that shone through the eyes of those most forgotten, marginalised unborn children who suffered as a result of the scourge of abortion. Older people, who were the victims of carelessness when euthanasia was placed on the table as an option. Women who suffer trafficking and exploitation or children put up for sale as a result of surrogacy and those who suffer the denials of their freedom and thought and religion rights so threatened for so many victims of bombs dropped or attacks conducted on religious grounds throughout the world.”
Pope Francis away on 21 April in Vatican City at the age of 88. The pontiff - born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina - was elected in March 2013. He was the first priest from the Americas region to lead the Catholic Church worldwide and a strong voice for social justice globally.
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