Pope Francis Addresses the U.N.

NEW YORK (AP) — Latest developments in Pope Francis’ visit to the United States. All times local:

12:45 p.m.

Pope Francis has viewed evocative artifacts of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at ground zero before leaving the museum that memorializes it.

He spoke at an interfaith service, calling for the world to build unity from its differences. It was held in a hall framed partly by an underground flood wall that became an emblem of resilience when it held fast after the attack. Standing nearby was the memento-covered steel column that was the last one removed from the wreckage.

Francis also toured some of the exhibits, including a cross-shaped steel beam found amid the debris.

Francis visited the museum as part of a three-city U.S. tour. He then departed for a break before resuming his day’s busy schedule.

12:20 p.m.

Speaking at the site of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, Pope Francis says the world can build peace from its differences.

Speaking at an interfaith ceremony at the Sept. 11 museum, the pope said there should be opposition to “any attempt to make us all the same.” Rather, he encouraged all to “say yes to our differences, accepting reconciliation.”

Francis is visiting the museum after a speech at the United Nations. He’s on a three-city tour of the U.S.

He says the world must look to its diversity of languages, cultures and religions and throw away “feelings of hate and revenge and rancor.”

He says he was moved by visiting the site of the former World Trade Center’s twin towers and by meeting relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 victims.

11:50 a.m.

Pope Francis has said a prayer of remembrance at an interfaith ceremony at the Sept. 11 museum in New York.

He asked God for eternal peace for those killed, as well as healing for the relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 terror attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania.

And he prayed to God to bring “peace to our violent world” and to “turn to your way of love” those who justify killing in the name of religion.

Francis is visiting the museum after a speech at the United Nations. He’s on a three-city tour of the U.S.

Religious leaders from many other faiths also are speaking on the need for peace and giving prayers.

11:30 a.m.

Pope Francis is inside the National Sept. 11 Memorial Museum to deliver remarks to more than 400 representatives from faith groups.

About a dozen religious leaders from the Jewish, Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Hindu and other faiths will sit in chairs behind the popeas he speaks at the interfaith ceremony.

Francis is visiting the museum after a speech at the United Nations. He’s on a three-city tour of the U.S.

He will speak near the underground flood wall that separates lower Manhattan from the Hudson River and held fast during the 2001 terrorist attacks. The wall sits just next to what is known as the “Last Column,” the final steel beam removed during the recovery after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Eighteen relatives of people who died in the attacks will also hear the pope’s remarks.

11:20 a.m.

As he headed to the Sept. 11 memorial, Pope Francis was seen off from the United Nations by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the General Assembly president.

Security for the pope’s U.N. visit was exceedingly tight. Longtime staffers agree it was even tighter than for the annual ministerial meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, which brings at least 120 world leaders to U.N. headquarters

Whole areas of the headquarters were declared off-limits. Long curtains were hung on windows overlooking the East River and First Avenue, apparently to thwart any snipers.

Hundreds of U.N. security officers and New York City police, as well as Secret Service agents, bomb-sniffing dogs and police boats, were on duty.

11:15 a.m.

Pope Francis is visiting the National Sept. 11 Memorial at ground zero.

To a cheer from the gathered crowd, he walked toward the two massive waterfall pools that mark the footprints of the World Trade Center’s twin towers before they were felled by the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Francis visited the site after a speech at the United Nations. He’s on a three-city tour of the U.S.

Francis prayed silently and laid a white rose at the edge of one of the pools, inscribed with the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field, as well as in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

He shook hands with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and began speaking with some 18 people from 10 victims’ families.

11:10 a.m.

Pope Francis’ call for a world free of nuclear weapons drew applause from across the United Nations General Assembly — including from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Francis made the comments at the U.N. on Friday morning, his first stop in a daylong visit to New York.

Francis praised the recent Iranian nuclear deal in his speech to more than 100 world leaders and diplomats, saying it was proof that political will and patience can bring about fruits.

But Francis lamented that conflicts are raging elsewhere and that Christians and religious minorities, in particular, are being targeted. He called for a “grave summons” for world leaders to reflect on the innocents who are being slaughtered.
10:30 a.m.

Pope Francis is demanding respect for the sacredness of all life, in a reference to abortion. His comments are sure to please conservatives who have complained that he doesn’t speak out enough against abortion.

Francis made the comments at the United Nations on Friday. The Vatican has long objected to U.N. calls for access to contraception and abortion for women.

In a speech to the General Assembly, Francis offered conservatives a lot to cheer: He called for a respect for all life and called for recognition of what he called the “natural difference between man and woman” — a reference to the Vatican’s opposition to gender theory.

He denounced what he called “ideological colonization” of the developing world — a reference to how ideas about contraception and gay rights are often imposed on poor nations as a condition for development aid.

10:25 a.m.

Pope Francis has asserted at the United Nations that the world’s poor have a right to education, lodging, labor and land.

In a speech before more than 100 world leaders and diplomats on Friday, Francis is demanding that the poor have immediate access to food and water, work and housing as well as religious freedom.

Francis is speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday during his first full day in New York. It’s part of a three-city trip to the U.S.

10:10 a.m.

Pope Francis has declared that there is a “right of the environment” and that humankind has no authority to abuse or destroy it.

Francis made the assertion in a speech to the United Nations on Friday during his first full day in New York.

Hoping to spur concrete action at upcoming climate change negotiations in Paris, Francis accused the world’s powerful countries of a “selfish and boundless thirst” for money. He says that has led them to destroy the planet and impoverish the weak and disadvantaged.

9:50 a.m.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Pope Francis has made papal history by addressing the largest array of world leaders ever at the United Nations.

The U.N. chief thanked the pope for demonstrating again his “remarkable global stature as a man of faith for all faiths.”

The gathering that starts shortly after the pope’s speech is bringing a record 154 heads of state or government to the U.N. It’s to launch an ambitious set of global development goals.

World leaders and diplomats filled the General Assembly chamber to hear the pope address representatives from its 193-member nations. Joining them were Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousefzai, the Pakistani education campaigner.

Ban spoke just before the pope. He said the pope’s message on climate change is critical as the world’s nations approach a pivotal conference to address climate change in Paris in December.

While others are at home in palaces with the famous, the secretary-general said the pope is at home among the poor and forgotten and with young people in selfies.

9:45 a.m.

Pope Francis has entered the United Nations General Assembly hall to applause.

His stop at the U.N. is part of a three-city trip to the U.S.

He arrived a bit early for his scheduled speech before the international body and stood in a corridor outside, chatting with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Then his arrival was announced, and he and Ban walked into the crescent-shaped chamber together.

The pope is sitting in a beige chair with a high back, where world leaders sit before they address the world body.

Among those in the audience is Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousefzai, the Pakistani education campaigner who will be addressing the U.N. summit to adopt new U.N. development goals. It starts shortly after the pope leaves U.N. headquarters.

9:40 a.m.

Pope Francis has been meeting with the incoming and outgoing presidents of the United Nations General Assembly ahead of his speech to the world body.

Francis’ first meeting was with outgoing president Sam Kutesa, who is foreign minister of Uganda. He handed the baton earlier this month to Mogens Lykketoft, a former speaker of Denmark’s Parliament.

Francis is at the U.N. for a speech that will bring his message to an international audience.

The president of the General Assembly presides over the 193-member body. The position rotates annually by region, and presidents are chosen by regional groups.

9:30 a.m.

Pope Francis is being driven to the United Nations General Assembly hall in an electric cart, past several dozen children singing a song and U.N. staffers cheering and shouting.

Sitting next to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he waved and smiled as someone in the crowd shouted: “Holy Father, holy Father — father to all. Thank you. Thank you.”

Francis is at the U.N. for a speech that will bring his message to an international audience.

Earlier, Francis addressed 400 staff members chosen by lottery.

He praised the staff for making possible many of the economic, diplomatic and political initiatives of the United Nations which are so important for meeting the aspirations of the world’s people.

He called them “the backbone” of the U.N. and urged them to send his greetings to staffers who lost the lottery.

9:10 a.m.

Pope Francis is thanking United Nations employees for work he says makes “possible many of the diplomatic, cultural, economic and political initiatives” of the world body.

Speaking to about 400 staffers in the lobby of the U.N.’s New York headquarters, the pope praised the contributions of everyone from officials to cooks, fieldworkers to maintenance workers.

He encouraged them all to “be close to one another, respect one another” and embody the U.N.’s ideals of a united human family working for peace and in peace.

His visit marks the fifth time a pope has been to the United Nations. It’s part of his three-city trip to the U.S.

9 a.m.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed Pope Francis to the United Nations, saying many draw inspiration from his “humility and humanity.”

He cites his call for global action on social justice, climate change and quality of life and dignity for all.

He says: “Thank you for your spiritual guidance … and love for humanity.”

The secretary-general and his wife, Yoo Soon-taek, met the pontiff as he arrived at the world body’s headquarters in New York just before 8:30 a.m.

While his visit marks the fifth time a pope has been to the United Nations, the Vatican flag was raised for the first time just before his arrival. The General Assembly recently agreed to allow the U.N.’s two observer states, the Holy See and Palestine, to fly their flags alongside those of the 193 member states.

8:55 a.m.

Pope Francis has signed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visitors’ book as he visits the world body’s headquarters.