Vatican City, May 9, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Holy See joined much of Europe yesterday in celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke to the U.N.’s General Assembly in New York yesterday, who marked May 8 and 9 as official days of remembrance for the war’s end.
He told the Assembly that, "There is no doubt [the war] was a terrible conflict, and it is both salutary and sobering to recall that it was the worst of several unnecessary, man-made global catastrophes that made the twentieth century one of the most bitter that humanity has ever known."
He added that, "responsibility in view of these previous catastrophes requires us to develop some considerations."
"First of all," the Archbishop continued, "among the roots of the Second World War was the exaltation of State and race, and the proud self-sufficiency of humanity based upon the manipulation of science, technology and force.”