Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Pope Benedict XVI Makes a Speech to the United Nations General Assembly; Earthquake Tremors in the Midwest; Day Two of Polygamist Hearing
Aired April 18, 2008 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Tony Harris. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Heidi continues maternity leave.
HARRIS: And developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on Friday, the 18th of April.
Here's what's on the rundown.
WHITFIELD: An earthquake shakes up the morning news in the Midwest. We will show you damage.
HARRIS: Pope arriving at the United Nations a short time ago and his speech to the world live this hour.
WHITFIELD: A Texas court wrestling with a polygamist custody case for a second day. Fighting for the children, in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: This hour, the Pope turns his attention from the deeply personal to the international. He is at the United Nations where minutes from now he will address the general assembly.
Here to set the stage for us, CNN senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.
Good morning to you, Richard. Broad themes for the Pope's address this morning. I know he wants to bring attention to a 1948 document.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: This is the establishment of a key treaty by the U.N. membership at that time. Universal declaration on Human Rights.
I think you're going to see heavy points on human rights, a message, perhaps, aimed to countries in the Middle East, maybe China. No nation specifically named, though. The general assembly president has just convened all the membership to settle down and get ready for the arrival of the Pope. He did arrive within the hour outside U.N. headquarters in a motorcade whisked here from a Wall Street helipad where he took a helicopter from JFK airport.
The Pope then entered the building and met with the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other U.N. officials. He had a private one-on-one meeting with the U.N. secretary general. It was at the invitation of the U.N. chief diplomat in Rome a year ago that has brought the Pope here for two reasons -- to see the U.N. and to talk about human rights and other aspects in the world -- of the world that he thinks needs some improvement -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Richard, just because I wasn't sure what the actual book was -- the Pope was signing there, maybe you can help me with that. There was a short time ago we had a picture of the Pope actually signing a book. Was it some kind of welcoming registry?
ROTH: Yes. It is a U.N. guest book. He also received the -- though we didn't see him get it. The secretary general was given by the Vatican delegation an old Vatican City map with a code of arms. That's a gift many countries do give gifts when they meet the secretary general here.
HARRIS: And Richard, is the schedule still pretty solid now? The Pope to address the general assembly at about 11:15?
ROTH: That's what we believe. He was -- I think he arrived here a little bit ahead of schedule.
HARRIS: Exactly.
ROTH: Considering New York traffic, I guess when you fly over it you get some perks.
HARRIS: Yes. All right. CNN senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth for us this morning.
Richard, good to see you. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Day two of a hearing on the fate of 416 children under way in Texas. It's a battle between Texas authorities and a polygamist sect.
Susan Roesgen is in San Angelo -- Susan?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fredricka, one of the problems is that there are, as you mentioned, more than 400 children. Some of them just 6 months old, some of them 17 years old. A whole range of children, dozens of attorneys representing the children and their families. And we have the investigators who initially went and talked to some of the girls on the ranch and made the decision that all of these children should be in state custody.
So on the one hand you have the mothers and the fathers saying that they want their children home. On the other hand, you have the investigators for Child Protective Services saying that those kids are in danger. And that if one child is abused that means it is an abusive situation.
The lead investigator will be taking the stand again this morning. She is Angie Voss, the lead investigator for Child Protective Services. She says that she uncovered a pattern of children having children. She says that the children told her investigators that no age was too young to have a spiritual relationship, to be united spiritually. She also says that the children told her that mothers who complained about things fell out of favor and were moved away.
And she says the boys were told from a very young age that they would be marrying several girls and would be having sex with young women. She says that that made the boys groomed to be perpetrators. So this is the very stark contrast that we have in this hearing. A 14-day custody hearing really to determine whether the state of Texas will keep all those children in protective custody.
But already, Fredricka, it is beginning to sound like a trial, an actual trial with back and forth cross-examination with objections. But there is a judge, Judge Barbara Walter, who does not take any gaff from anybody. She keeps it moving fairly quickly. And although the hearing lasted well into the night last night, she says today it will be over by 4:00. So she's going to keep it going -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Interesting, Susan. And even though this 16-year-old who allegedly first tipped off authorities that there was abuse and she had been a victim of such, even though that person has been -- has not been identified, prosecutors do feel like they have the evidence needed to go forward with this case.
ROESGEN: They do. You know, they went looking for one girl whose first name was Sarah. We're not giving the last name. And they came away not finding her but they say they found several Sarahs and other young women under the age of 16 who either were pregnant or had had babies under the age of 16. And they think they have found plenty of evidence to go forward. But the attorneys for the families say that those investigators are relying on hearsay.
So we'll have to see what happens, whether or not the state will continue to have custody.
WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Roesgen, thank you so much, in San Angelo, Texas -- Tony.
HARRIS: And here this morning, a shocking wakeup call. An earthquake rocked the Midwest early this morning. The 5.2 magnitude quake was centered about 38 miles north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit the region in 40 years. People felt it hundreds of miles away, all the way to Iowa and Tennessee. This building, take a look at this. Louisville, Kentucky was damaged. And skyscrapers were shaking in Chicago and Indianapolis. No injuries and very little damage to report.
But in an area that does not often get earthquakes nerves were definitely rattled.
CNN affiliate WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky was on the air when the quake hit. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: All right. We are experiencing shaking here right now in the studio. Perhaps a tremor of sorts. We have the whole studio...
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: The whole studio is shaking -- Kevin?
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: I don't know if you can hear our lights right now. But they're shaking overhead and we're actually...
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: ...the computer is shaking just a little bit.
Kevin, what do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: Yes, I would have to think that this is an earthquake of some sort that's going on. That's...
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: Look at our lights right there. They are shaking. We can feel it.
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: The whole studio is shaking.
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: It started as a small thing and then (INAUDIBLE) come back for that story...
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: ...that you can really feel the whole studio here shaking.
UNIDENTIFIED WAVE REPORTER: A little bit more -- just about 30 seconds?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right. Now wait a minute, Fred. You're thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Our man Kevin there was ready to bolt. Kevin -- Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HARRIS: Put me back on camera. I'm ready to go.
MARCIANO: Yes. No. Listen, guys.
HARRIS: It is...
MARCIANO: I think the weather guys have this instinct when -- when something like that or a storm is coming...
HARRIS: Because you know. MARCIANO: We're the first ones to dive for cover.
HARRIS: Because you know.
MARCIANO: Yes.
HARRIS: It's go time.
MARCIANO: You know you don't want your epithet to read, you know, weather man dies because he was, you know, talking some stuff about an earthquake there.
HARRIS: We're picking on Kevin. But man oh man, he was definitely ready to go.
WHITFIELD: He had it together. But he definitely looked like a deer in the headlights.
MARCIANO: That'll be something. It's bad enough to just kind of hanging out in your home, thinking, what should I do?
HARRIS: Right.
MARCIANO: Be on live, like this job isn't tough enough.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HARRIS: All right.
MARCIANO: You know, we're just one step -- well, it's not...
WHITFIELD: We were...
MARCIANO: We're just one step away from...
WHITFIELD: Only laughing because we know no one got hurt.
HARRIS: Everyone's OK.
MARCIANO: That's right.
Hey, couple of aftershocks, guys, in the 2.5 range. So barely you even felt there. Get out of the way of the Pope play-by-play. This Google Earth map. Want to show you something else that's pretty interesting. Here's where that quake happened on the new Madrid fault. This is where we think of most earthquakes happening, where you've got Pacific and North American quakes kind of run into each other, diving underneath one another.
That's where you get a lot of loose -- a lot of friction, a lot of heat because of that. And then the average fault, really a lot -- just don't quite understand everything that happens here. But things do happen for a reason. And when the Pope goes to New York, the sky is open. Beautiful day there. Going to throw it back to you, guys.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Rob. Of course, we're looking at live pictures of the Pope's entrance into the general assembly. A room there where he will be addressing the audience, representatives of 192 countries. Standing ovation. We were trying to guess...
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: ...how long it might take him before he'd be able to get to position because...
HARRIS: Because of the (INAUDIBLE).
WHITFIELD: Everyone wants -- yes, everyone wants to be near him, because the applause. And just might be a couple of minutes.
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Yes. Before he gets a chance to begin discussing human rights issues that we talked to Richard earlier who kind of was able to give as a preview of the things that might be expected. Human rights treaty is one item...
HARRIS: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: ...that the Pope might be discussing as well as the freedom of religion.
Let's listen in.
SRGJAN KERIM, PRES., U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I'm (INAUDIBLE).
It is an immense honor for me as the president of the United Nations General Assembly to welcome the head of the Roman Catholic Church, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.
The word ecclesia stands for both an assembly and a church. Therefore, Your Holiness, allow me to express my sincere feelings of appreciation on behalf of the peoples of the United Nations ecclesia towards you as the supreme shepherd of all Catholics.
The month of April has an extraordinary meaning and significance in your life. Not only because you were born on April 16th but also because you were appointed cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni on April 5th, 1993. You were elected bishop of Rome on April 19th, 2005. And your pontificates started on April 24th, 2005. So Your Holiness, happy birthday and happy anniversary.
(APPLAUSE)
KERIM: In your message to the people of the United States, you described your visit and I quote, "as a paternal gesture towards every ecclesial community and the sign of friendship for members of the religious traditions and all men and women of good will," end of quote. Your presence here today, Your Holiness, is a very powerful recognition of the validity and importance of international institutions particularly of the United Nations.
In a world full of controversies which can escalate into conflicts, violence and atrocities, the role of international institutions is without alternative. Effective (INAUDIBLE) remains our goal so as to achieve peace and stability on earth. I am deeply convinced that the United Nations can count on your full support as the Holy Father of the Catholic community, a community of more than one billion people in promoting a profound dialogue between cultures, peoples, nations and religions.
Excellencies, the visit of his holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the United Nations provides a unique occasion to remind ourselves of our noble mission as it is set out in the charter, and I quote, "To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal right of men and women and of nations large and small. To practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors for tolerance is the foundation of freedom of individual including freedom of faith."
Your Holiness, the essence of the United Nations agenda is development for all based on equity and equality of all persons as well as global partnership. That makes the United Nations so valuable. A strong development agenda based on noble approach is to financing for development, environmental protection and achieving the millennium development growth is a high priority for the United Nations on the decades to come.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights and observed, and just Your Holiness rightly observed, and I quote, "The need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever," end of quote.
The declaration embodies the higher virtues of the human family. It compels us to move principal intentions to action that promotes human rights, human security, responsibility to protect, and more sustainable development.
I believe these are the purest for a more just (INAUDIBLE) and new culture of international relations based on peace and tolerance with the United Nations at its heart. The new cultural international relations should have as its core principle the responsibility of all states, international and transnational institutions, as well as civil society and NGOs to work together in solidarity in order to provide every individual with equality of access to rights and opportunities.
Our moral and institutional obligation is to reshape international organizations to facilitate these opportunities. In this regard, let me express my high appreciation for the valuable contribution of the Holy See to the work of the general assembly and in particular, for your important role, Your Holiness, in promoting social justice, providing education, and elevating poverty and hunger around the world. Your Holiness, we count on your continued blessing and support as we pursue our work.
I thank you all for your attention.
(APPLAUSE)
KERIM: I now give the floor to the secretary general of the United Nations, His Excellency, Ban Ki-moon.
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Your holiness, excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. I'm deeply grateful to His Holiness for accepting my invitation to visit the United Nations, home to men and women of faith around the world.
Your Holiness, welcome to our common home.
The United Nations is a sacred institution composed of 192 states. We have six official languages but no official religion. We do not have a chapel. So we do have a meditation room. But if you ask those of us who work for the United Nations what motivates us, many of us with pride in a language of faith, we see what we do not only as a job but as a mission.
Indeed, mission is the word we use most often for our work around the world from peace and security to development and human rights.
Your Holiness, in so many ways, our mission unites us with yours. You have spoken of the terrible challenge of poverty afflicting so much of the world's population and how we cannot afford indifference and self-centered isolation. You have encouraged the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and called for progressive and agreed-upon nuclear disarmament. You have spelled out that those with greater power may not use it to violate the rights of others and stated that peace is based on respect for the rights of all.
You have spoken of the water resources and climate change as matters of great importance for the entire human family. You have called for an open and sincere dialogue, both within your church and between religions and -- cultures in search of the good human kind.
Finally, you have called for trust -- trust in and commitment to the United Nations. As you have said, the United Nations is capable of fostering genuine dialogue and understanding reconciling diversions, views and developing (INAUDIBLE) of policies and strategies capable of meeting the many fold challenges of our complex and rapidly changing world.
Your Holiness, these are fundamental goals we share. We are grateful to have your prayers and as you -- we proceed on the path towards them. Before leaving the United Nations today, you will visit the meditation room. My great predecessor, Dag Hammarskjold, who created that room for his work. He said of the stone that forms its centerpiece, and I quote, "We may see it as an altar, empty, not because there is no god. Not because it is an altar for an unknown god. But because it is dedicated to the god whom man worships under many names and in many forms."
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, whether we worship one god, many or none, we in the United Nations have to sustain and strengthen our faith every day. As demands on our organization multiply, we need more and more of this precious commodity. I'm profoundly grateful to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, for bestowing some of his faith on us and for placing his trust in us. He possesses both of these in abundance. May we be strengthened by his visit today.
Your holiness, I give you the floor and thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): In speaking to this assembly, I would like first of all to express to you, Mr. President, my deep gratitude for your kind words. My thanks go also to the secretary general, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, who has invited me to visit the headquarters of this organization and to thank him for the welcome which he's given me.
I greet the ambassadors and the diplomats of member states, and all those who are present.
Through you, I send greetings to the peoples that you represent here. They expect from this institution that it will put into practice the founding ideals; in other words, that it should be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common goals of peace and development.
As Pope John Paul II expressed in 1995, the organization must be a moral center where all nations of the world feel themselves at home and develop a common awareness, so to speak, and feel a family of nations.
Through the United Nations, states have set out universal objectives, which, even if they do not fully coincide with the well- being of the human family, nevertheless represent a fundamental part of it.
The founding principles of the organization -- the desire for peace, the sense of justice, respect for the dignity of the individual, and cooperation and humanitarian assistance -- are the expression of just aspirations of the human spirit and represent the ideals which must underlie international relations.
Like my predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II have stated from the same podium, this is all part of the realities that the Catholic Church and the Holy See regard with attention and interest. They see in your activity an example of the way in which problems and conflicts affecting the international community can benefit from common settlement.
The United Nations give form to the aspiration for a higher level of organization at the international level, which must be inspired and guided by the principle of subsidiarity and therefore be able to respond to the demands of the human family, thanks to effective international rules and the implementation of ways to ensure harmony in people's daily lives.
This is even more necessary in the current context, where we are witnessing the clear paradox of the multilateral consensus, which continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a small number, while the problems of the world require, from the international community, that it act on a common basis.
Indeed, the questions of security, the development goals, the reduction of inequalities, both locally and globally, the protection of the environment, natural resources and the climate require that all leaders in the international community should act together and be ready to work in good faith, in the respect of the rule of law, to promote solidarity in the most fragile regions of the planet.
I'm thinking in particular of certain countries in Africa and on other continents who are still excluded from a full genuine development and which risk only to experience the negative effects of globalization.
In the context of international relations, we must recognize the primordial role of rules of structures which by their nature are instituted to achieve the common good and, therefore, to safeguarding human freedom.
These rules do not limit freedom; on the contrary, they promote it when they prohibit actions which go against the common good or which hamper the effective enjoyment of freedom and which compromise, therefore, the dignity of every human being.
In the name of liberty, there must be a correlation between rights and responsibilities on the basis of which every individual is called upon to shoulder his or her responsibilities in the choices he or she makes while taking account of the fabric of relations with other people.
We're thinking here of the way in which the results of scientific research and technological progress have sometimes been used.
While recognizing the immense benefits that humanity can draw from them, some of their uses constitute a clear violation of the created order to the point not just of being in contradiction with the sacred nature of life, but deprive the individual and the family from their natural identity.
In the same way, international action aimed at conserving the environment and protecting various forms of life on Earth must not only ensure a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of the creation.
It will never be a question of having to choose between science and ethics, but rather of adopting a scientific method which must genuinely respect ethic imperatives.
Recognizing the unity of the human family and the attention given to the innate dignity of every woman and every man now finds a new impetus in the principle of the responsibility to protect.
This was defined only recently, but it was already implicitly present at the origins of the United Nations, and currently it characterizes more and more its activity. Each state has the overarching duty to protect its population against serious and repeated violations of human rights, as well as the consequences of humanitarian crisis due to natural causes or resulting from man's activities.
If states are unable to guarantee such a protection, it is then up to the international community to intervene with the legal means that are provided for under the charter of the United Nations and by other international instruments.
The action of the international community and of its institutions to the extent that it respects the principles that underlie international order should never be seen as unjustified coercion or as being a limitation on sovereignty.
On the contrary, it is indifference or nonintervention which cause the real harm.
An in-depth study must be made of the ways to prevent and manage conflicts by using all the means that diplomatic action has at its disposal while giving attention to and supporting even the slightest sign of dialogue and the desire for reconciliation.
The principle of the responsibility to protect was considered under the long-standing jus gentium as the basis of any action undertaken by the authority toward those who were governed by it.
When the concept of the national sovereign state emerged, the Dominican Monk Francisco de Victoria, considered correctly as a precursor of the idea of the United Nations, described this responsibility as an aspect of natural reason that is shared by all nations and is the fruit of international law whose task was to govern the relations between peoples.
Now, as was the case then, such a principle must reveal the idea of a human person as being in the image of the creator and also the absolute desire and the essence of liberty.
The creation of the United Nations, we all know, coincided with earth-shaking events that humanity suffered when the reference to the sense of a transcendence and to natural reason were abandoned. And, as a result, liberty and human dignity were violated on a huge scale.
In such circumstances, this threatens the objective foundation of the values that inspire the international order and undermine the intangible and binding principles that were formulated by the United Nations in the face of new repeated challenges.
It would be an error to hide behind a pragmatic approach which would be limited to establishing common bases with a minimum content and with a limited effectiveness.
The reference, the human dignity as the foundation and goal of the responsibility to protect, brings us to the theme of this year, which marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That document was the fruit of a coming together of different cultural and religious traditions which were all inspired by the common desire to place the human individual at the center of its institutions, laws, and the action of societies, and to consider it as essential for the world of culture, religion and science.
Human rights are more often presented as a common language and the ethic underpinning of international relations. Just like their universality, their indivisibility and their interdependence are all guarantees of protecting human dignity.
But it is clear that the recognized rights that are set out in the declaration apply to every individual, and that is because of the common origin of people, who remain the central point of the creative design of God for the world and for history.
These rights find their basis in natural law, enshrined in the heart of man and present in his various cultures and civilizations. To separate human rights from this context would limit their (ph) -- limit their scope and give way to a relativist conception according to which the meaning and interpretation of rights could vary and their universality could be denied in the name of different cultural, political, social and religious conceptions.
The great variety points of view can never be a motive for forgetting the fact that these are not only rights which are universal, but also the human person who is the object of these rights.
The life of the community, both domestically and internationally, clearly demonstrated respect for rights. The guarantees that follow from them are measures of the common good that serve to evaluate the relationship between justice and injustice, development and poverty, security and conflict.
The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups and for increasing security.
Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair, whose human dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence and they can then become violators of peace.
The common good that human rights help to accomplish cannot, however, be obtained merely by applying correct procedures. Nevertheless, by achieving a balance between competing rights, the merit of the Universal Declaration is set -- said it has enabled different cultures, political expressions and institutional models to converge around a fundamental nucleus of values and (inaudible) of rights.
Truly (ph) so efforts need to be redoubled in the face of pressure, to reinterpret the foundations of the declaration and to compromise its inner unity so as to facilitate or move away from the protection of human dignity toward the satisfaction of simple interests, often particular interests. The declaration was adopted as a common standard of achievement and cannot be applied piecemeal, according to trends of selective choices that merely run the risk of contradicting the unity of the human person and thus the indivisibility of human rights.
Experience shows that legality often prevails over justice when the insistence upon rights makes them appear as the exclusive result of legislative enactments or nominative (ph) decisions taken by the various agencies of those in power.
When presented poorly, in terms of legality, rights risk becoming weak propositions divorced from the ethical and the rational dimension which is their foundation and their goal.
The Universal Declaration rasa (ph) has reinforced the conviction (INAUDIBLE) for human rights is principally rooted in unchanging justice on which the binding force of (INAUDIBLE) and proclamations is also based.
This aspect is often overlooked when the attempt is made to deprive rights of their true function in the name of not only utilitarian prospective, since rights and their resulting duties follow not only from human interaction.
It is easy to forget, since they are the fruit of a commonly held sense of justice, be primarily upon solidarity amongst the members of society and hence valid at all times and for all peoples.
This institution was expressed as early as the 5th century by Augustine of Hippo, one of the masters of our intellectual heritage. He taught that saying, "Do not do to others what you would not want done to you" -- cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings that have arisen in the world.
Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of justice and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of the legislators (ph).
Ladies and gentlemen, as history proceeds, new situations arise and the attempt is made to link them to new rights. Discernment, said is the capacity to distinguish good from evil, becomes more essential in the context of demands that concerns the very lives and conduct of persons, communities and peoples.
In talking theme of rights, since important situations and profound realities are involved, discernment is both an indispensable and a fruitful virtue.
Discernment then shows that entrusting exclusively to individual states, with their laws and institutions, the final responsibility to meet the aspirations of persons, communities and entire peoples can sometimes have consequences that exclude the possibility of social order respectful of the dignity and the rights of the person.
On the other hand, a vision of life firmly anchored in the religious dimension can help to achieve this, since recognition of the transcendent value of (INAUDIBLE) men and women furthers conversion of heart, which then leads to a commitment to resist violence, terrorism and war, and to promote justice and peace.
This also provides the proper context for the inter-religious dialogue that the United Nations is called to support, just as it supports dialogue in other areas of human activity.
Dialogue should be recognized as the means by which the various components of society can articulate a point of view and be consensus around the truth concerning particular values or goals.
It pertains to the natural religions freely practiced, since you cannot autonomously conduct a dialogue of thought and life. (inaudible) the religious faith (ph) kept separate from political action (inaudible) great benefits and (INAUDIBLE) for individuals and communities.
On the other hand, the United Nations can count on the results of dialogue between religions and can draw fruit from the willingness of believers to place experiences into service of the common good.
The task is the preservation of faith not in terms of intolerance, discrimination and conflict, but in terms of complete respect for truth, coexistence, rights and reconciliation.
Human rights, of course, must include the right to religious freedom and has stood as the expression a dimension that is at once individual and communitarian, a vision (ph) that brings out the unity of the person by clearly distinguishing between the dimension of the citizen and that of the believer.
The activity of the United Nations in recent years has ensured that public debate gives space to viewpoints inspired by a righteous vision in all its dimensions, including ritual, worship, education, dissemination of information and the freedom to profess and choose religion.
It is inconceivable, then, that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves, their faiths in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order to ensure one survives.
So rights associated with religion are also more in need of protection if they're considered to clash with the prevailing secular ideology, always majority religious (ph) positions of an exclusive nature.
The full guarantee of religious liberty cannot be limited to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due consideration to the public dimension of religion, and, hence, to the possibility of the believers playing their part in building the social order.
Indeed, they actually do so, for example, through their influential and generous involvement in a vast network of initiatives which extend from universities, scientific institutions and schools to aid (ph) care agencies and charitable organizations in the service of the poorest and most marginalized. Refusal to recognize the contribution to society that is rooted in the religious dimension and in the quest for the absolute, by its nature expressing (INAUDIBLE) between persons, would effectively privilege an individualistic approach and would fragment the unity of the person.
My presence at this assembly is a sign of esteem for the United Nations. And it is intended to express a hope that the organization will increasingly serve as a sign of unity between states and an instrument of service to the entire human family.
It also demonstrates the willingness of the Catholic Church to offer a proper contribution to building international relations in a way that allows every person and every people to feel they can make a difference, in a manner that is consistent with their contribution, the ethical moral (ph) sphere, and the free activity of the faithful.
The Church also works for the realization of these goals through the international activity of the Holy See.
Indeed, the Holy See has always had a place at the assemblies of the nations, thereby manifesting its specific character as a subject in the international domain.
As the United Nations recently confirmed, the Holy See certainly makes its contribution according to the dispositions of international law; helps to define that law and makes appeal to it.
The United Nations remains a privileged setting in which the Church is committed to contributing her experience of humanity developed over the centuries among peoples of every race and culture and placing it at the disposal of all members of the international community.
This experience and activity directed toward attaining freedom for every believer seeks also to increase the protection given the rights of the person. Those rights are grounded and shaped by the transcendent nature of the person, which permits men and women to pursue their journey of faith and their search for God in this world.
Recognition of this dimension must be strengthened if we are to sustain humanity's hope for a better world, and if we are to create the conditions for peace, development, cooperation, and guarantee of rights for future generations.
In my recent encyclical Spe Salvi, I indicated that every generation has the task of engaging anew the ardent search for the right way to order human affairs.
For Christians, this task is motivated by the hope drawn from the saving work of Jesus Christ. That is why the Church is happy to be associated with the activity of this distinguished organization charged with the responsibility of promoting peace and good and good will throughout the Earth.
Dear friends, I thank you for this opportunity to address you today, and I promise you of the support of my prayers as you pursue your noble task.
Before I take my leave from this distinguished assembly, I should like to offer my greetings in the official languages to all the nations here represented.
Peace and prosperity with God's help.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
WHITFIELD: Pope Benedict XVI there. He knows 10 languages. He just now spoke six of them: English, French, Spanish, Arab, Chinese, and Russian, saying peace and prosperity with God's help.
Human rights is a common language, is what he said. And this is the area the pope focused on before these representatives of 192 countries at the U.N. General Assembly. He underscored that leaders should work together in solidarity for the protection of the climate, the environment, the reduction of inequities across the board.
U.N. -- senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth has been monitoring these events throughout. Well, he focused primarily on exactly what you thought he might. He wanted to press on human rights and how it's the responsibility of the entire international community, Richard.
ROTH: Yes, human rights was a major theme of this address. You see Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the General Assembly President observing the proceedings here. There was a little bit for every country to choose from, some they would like, some they wouldn't.
But on human rights, it was a clarion call for the wishes of every individual to be respected by the member states of the U.N.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE BENEDICT XVI: The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups and for increasing security. Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair, whose human dignities violated with impunity become easy prey to the cultural violence and they can then become violators of peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: I mean, it's the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, a bed rock treaty for here for the U.N. But since it was established, there have been dozens, hundreds of wars still as the member countries of the U.N. really disrespect the treaty.
Pope Benedict now leaving the General Assembly. He'll return after the hall is emptied because the U.N. staff, some lucky 3,000, will be inside the hall to hear their own address from the pope -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Richard Roth at the U.N. Thank you very much.
Well, of course, the pope's address now to the U.N. General Assembly complete. The pope now moves ahead with the remainder of his schedule for the day, and it's big schedule.
This afternoon, he visits a Manhattan synagogue and he sees that an important gesture of reaching out to all faiths. That's being carried through to the end of the day. He'll attend a prayer service with leaders of other Christian denominations.
And then on Sunday, he'll visit Ground Zero. There, he'll meet with 9/11 survivors and the families of those killed in the terror attacks. He will also celebrate Sunday mass at Yankee Stadium.
HARRIS: Let's get to Rob Marciano now who has more on aftershocks being felt, a report following the earthquake in the Midwest early this morning -- Rob?
MARCIANO: Hey, Tony.
We've had several, as you know, in the two to three range. And just in the last few minutes, that's the last 20 minutes, at 38 or so after the hour, we had another larger one. So, we'll zoom in. 5.2, that was the original one at 5:30. Eastern time, or 4:30 local time. And again, this is northwest of Evansville, about 128 miles east of St. Louis.
This red, that's the last hour and that was a 4.5. So, not quite a moderate earthquake, but certainly an aftershock of the 5.2. That one, I'm pretty sure, Tony, and Fredricka, was felt certainly in the vicinity if not in some other places that felt the 5.2. So, still an unstable situation. And the fact we got a larger aftershock here just in the last half an hour is a little bit of concern and certainly unnerving for the folks who went the first round earlier this morning.
HARRIS: Sure.
WHITFIELD: It is that. All right, thanks so much, Rob.
MARCIANO: You got it.
WHITFIELD: A stunning survival story, a man falls into a volcano. Meanwhile, back at the top of the crater, a real cliffhanger.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Four days and counting to the Pennsylvania primaries and the Democratic candidates are crisscrossing the state as you see here. Barack Obama had a morning town hall meeting in Erie, Pennsylvania. That on the left. Another this afternoon in Williamsport and night-time rally in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton also in Williamsport. You see her on the right. She's got a morning town hall meeting and an evening event in Winston- Salem, North Carolina.
Well, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain began his day at a prayer breakfast in Washington.
Well, join "Rick on the Road" this weekend. CNN's Rick Sanchez will be live in Philadelphia for a two-hour special on the Pennsylvania primary. He'll be talking with the state's top political movers and shakers and just regular folks as well in coffee shops. And about this -- all about this make or break contest.
HARRIS: This is, yes.
WHITFIELD: "Rick on the Road," Philadelphia, Saturday and Sunday beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time.
HARRIS: Three snowmobilers, an incredible survival story. One man falls into a volcano, then rides an avalanche at 60 miles an hour. Well, back up the mountain, his son's in a real-life cliffhanger.
Pat Doris of affiliate KGW has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw that crack what, 10, 15 feet away?
PAT DORIS, KGW REPORTER (voice-over): When Jared Slemp shot this video early Saturday evening on the rim of Mount St. Helens, he must have felt he was truly, finally home. The marine had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq and was snowmobiling again. His first time up with his father John and their friend, Rob Mays.
That's his dad John, on his knees carefully checking out the snow 20 feet back from the edge of the volcano's rim. In an instant, it all gave way.
JOHN SLEMP, SURVIVED FALL TO CRATER FLOOR: Next thing I know, I'm in a -- it's kind of like a fog. It's -- I mean, I had my eyes open, but you couldn't see out, or I couldn't see across. I couldn't see anything. It was just like a real heavy fog.
They say -- I knew I was in a free fall. They say I freefell 100, 150 feet. Looking back up at it when I got down to the bottom, it was longer than that. But there was no transition from freefalling to touching the ground. I felt absolutely nothing. It was just so soft.
DORIS: And it was so not over. John took off like a shot, sliding at speeds that may have reached 60 to 70 miles an hour at the back of an avalanche another 2,000 feet down the inside of the crater rim. The snowmobile helmet saved his life.
Back up at the top, Jared, the 250-pound marine struggled for his life, hanging on to the slippery edge of the new cliff with his feet dangling above the empty space.
JARED SLEMP, CLUNG TO EDGE: When I landed, you know, I had my chest above the ledge. And then I started sliding farther and farther back. And I could just -- I was kind of counting down like three, two, one. This is -- I'm going to go. So, I'm counting three, two. And then, I -- all of a sudden, here's Rob.
DORIS: Rob Mays noticed a crack in the snow an instant before it collapsed and jumped back to safety. Now, the 140-pound engineer dove back toward the cliff.
ROB MAYS, SAVED FRIEND: I grabbed him by his elbows. You know, I mean, his arms are buried in the snow, with his hands digging in. And so, I grabbed him by his elbows and I was holding on to him. And we stared at each other for a good 45 seconds trying to figure out what to do here.
And I realized you know, I told him, I said you got to kick some foot holes in the ice. He said I've been trying. And he tried to pull himself up and he only got like two or three inches of height on his body but he kept trying to do it with his forearms. I'm like, oh man, we are screwed.
DORIS: But they were not. Mays dug his boots into the snow and told the marine to grab his shoulder. He did and pulled himself to safety.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: So, John Slemp, the man who fell, was picked up by a rescue team. As for the other two snowmobilers, they're planning, Fred ...
WHITFIELD: No.
HARRIS: ...to head back up to Mount St. Helens ...
WHITFIELD: This?
HARRIS: Yes, this weekend.
WHITFIELD: No, no, no, no.
HARRIS: Yes, this weekend.
WHITFIELD: Wow, they're amazing. They're thrill-seekers.
HARRIS: Yes, they are.
WHITFIELD: At the very least, right?
HARRIS: What a week it has been. Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: We're glad it was a happy ending for them.
HARRIS: Thanks for everything. WHITFIELD: Thanks to you as well.
HARRIS: CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now. I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "ISSUE #1" with news on the economy, that begins right after a check of the headlines.
