‘Be Christ’s instruments of peace’: USCCB President Archbishop Coakley urges prayer on 9/11’s 25th anniversary

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a statement for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, encouraging people to turn to prayer in observance of the day.

In the statement, the archbishop invited all Catholics to join him in praying “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.” 

According to the FBI, the terrorist attacks killed 2,976 people and injured thousands of others. Archbishop Coakley emphasized his spiritual support for those whose lives remain marked by grief. 

“In a special way, we lovingly embrace in prayer the victims’ families and friends, who still mourn the irretrievable loss of their loved ones on that day,” he said. “We also remember the first responders and emergency workers, so many who gave their lives in selfless acts of courage.”

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The archbishop then recalled how faith in God sustained those grieving in the wake of the terrorist attacks, and he encouraged Catholics to turn once again to God so as to cultivate peace in the world. 

“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,” he said. “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,” he continued. “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.”

He noted that Pope Leo XIV has previously said that peace is not just a goal but a presence and ongoing effort. According to the Pontiff, peace can be protected from extinguishment even amid deeply oppressive circumstances, through people who choose to remember it. 

“He says that even in places where only rubble remains, and despair seems inevitable, we still find people who have not forgotten peace,” Archbishop Coakley concluded. “As we pray for our nation’s continued healing, for the souls of all those lost on that day and the comfort of their families, let us implore the Holy Spirit to conform us, increasingly, into the image of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and together build a civilization of love and universal fraternity.”