US bishops mark 9/11 anniversary 25 years on

By CathNews New Zealand

September 15th, 2026

(Robert J. Fisch/Wikimedia Commons)

In a statement marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops prayed for victims and their families, and called on Catholics to build peace. Source: USCCB.

Archbishop Paul Coakley said in a statement on September 9: “As we prayerfully remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I invite all Catholics to join me in prayer for the victims taken from us in acts of unjustifiable violence 25 years ago at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania.”

Also remembered in prayer are the victims’ families and friends as well as emergency workers and first responders, the archbishop said.

“Amid that terrible day and the dark hours of fear and uncertainty that followed, we must also remember that our faith lifted us up and sustained us. As a nation, we found ourselves turning to God in prayer and looking to our faith with a new intensity and a sense of unity.

“As conflicts intensify around the world, let us renew our commitment to be Christ’s instruments of peace in an increasingly fractured and divided world. The building of peace in our country and around the world – a mission that enables us to be called children of God – is the great challenge of our time.”

Archbishop Coakley asked the Holy Spirit “to conform us, increasingly, into the image of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and together build a civilisation of love and universal fraternity”.

Pope Leo XIV also noted the anniversary in his address to the faithful after the Angelus Prayer at the Vatican on September 13.

Speaking from the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square, he said he renews his prayers “for those who lost their lives and for those who continue to bear the wounds of that tragic day”.

“At a time when conflict and violence afflict so many of our brothers and sisters, I invite everyone to pray that the Lord will bestow his gift of peace upon the world,” the Pope added.

He said that the tragic event of 25 years ago calls for a renewal of a commitment to peace, “first and foremost with prayer, that we entrust to the intercession of the Virgin Mary”.

FULL STORY

US bishops mark 9/11 anniversary with prayers and call to make peace (USCCB)

Pope: Remembering the tragedy of 9/11 urges us to work for peace (Vatican News)