This Friday, September 11, marks 25 years since the Islamist terrorist attacks carried out by Al Qaeda against the United States, which claimed 2,977 lives in New York, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania. On the anniversary, U.S. bishops have called for prayers for the souls of those murdered, for their families, and for emergency service members, and have urged Catholics to renew their commitment to being “instruments of Christ’s peace” amid conflicts spreading across the world.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by 19 Al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four commercial airliners. Two were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. On the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, passengers and crew confronted the hijackers before the aircraft crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The 2,977 victims came from 90 countries: 2,753 died in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 aboard Flight 93.
“Our faith lifted us up and sustained us”
In a statement published on September 9, the Archbishop of Oklahoma City and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Paul S. Coakley, invited all Catholics to remember in prayer those taken “in acts of unjustifiable violence” a quarter-century ago.
“In a special way, we lovingly embrace in prayer the families and friends of the victims, who still mourn the irreplaceable loss of their loved ones that day,” Coakley said. The archbishop also recalled police officers, firefighters, and other emergency personnel, “many of whom gave their lives in selfless acts of courage.”
Coakley also recalled the spiritual response that followed the attacks: “In the midst of 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.” The United States, he added, then turned its gaze toward God “with a new intensity and a sense of unity.”
Twenty-five years later, the USCCB president placed that memory in the context of today’s wars and conflicts. “As conflicts intensify around the world, let us renew our commitment to be instruments of Christ’s peace in an increasingly fractured and divided world,” he said.
In addition, Coakley echoed the words of Leo XIV in his message for this year’s World Day of Peace and called for prayers “for the continued healing of our nation, for the souls of all who lost their lives that day, and for the consolation of their families.” His message concludes by asking the Holy Spirit to conform Christians ever more closely to Jesus Christ, the “Prince of Peace,” in order to build “a civilization of love and universal brotherhood.”
Father Mychal Judge, FDNY chaplain and victim 0001
Among the Catholics whose memory remains tied to 9/11 is Father Mychal Judge, a Franciscan and chaplain of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), who went to the World Trade Center to minister spiritually to firefighters and victims and died during the emergency response.
Judge was officially recorded as victim 0001, the first certified death of the attacks. In honor of this 25th anniversary, the FDNY has produced Remembering Judge, a film dedicated to remembering the life and legacy of its chaplain.
The FDNY has also prepared a second documentary, Resilience, focused on the ongoing consequences still suffered by members of the department who took part in rescue and recovery efforts amid the ruins of the World Trade Center. A quarter-century later, illnesses and deaths linked to exposure to toxic substances at the site continue to be recorded.
John Paul II: “A dark day in the history of humanity”
The Church’s response came immediately after the attacks. The following day, September 12, 2001, Saint John Paul II opened his general audience by expressing his “deep sorrow” over the attacks and his closeness to the American people.
“Yesterday was a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to the dignity of man,” the Pontiff said, describing the attacks as “unspeakable horror” and reiterating that “the ways of violence never lead to true solutions to the problems of humanity.”
John Paul II then asked, “How can such savage acts of cruelty be committed?” and called for prayers that “the spiral of hatred and violence may not prevail.” He also entrusted to the Virgin, Mother of Mercy, the task of inspiring hearts with “thoughts of wisdom and purposes of peace.”
Two months later, the U.S. bishops issued the pastoral message Living With Faith and Hope After September 11, in which they described the attacks as assaults on the United States “and on all humanity” and offered criteria from Catholic teaching for responding to terrorism.
The document did not frame peace as a renunciation of legitimate self-defense. The bishops acknowledged that the nation had the “right and duty” to respond and protect the common good, and recalled that the Church permits the use of force by a legitimate authority in self-defense and as a last resort. At the same time, they insisted on the moral limits of such a response: civilian immunity, proportionality, and respect for the lives of the innocent.
They also rejected any supposed religious justification for the massacre: “There can be no religious or moral justification for what happened on September 11.” Terrorism committed in the name of religion, they warned, “profaned religion.”
Benedict XVI: “No circumstance can ever justify acts of terrorism”
Ten years after the attacks, Benedict XVI returned to the issue in a letter addressed to then-USCCB president Timothy Dolan.
The Pope emphasized the terrorists’ claim to justify their actions by appealing to God. “The tragedy of that day is compounded by the claim of the perpetrators to be acting in the name of God,” he wrote.
“It must be stated once again, unequivocally, that no circumstance can ever justify acts of terrorism,” Benedict XVI added. “Every human life is precious in the eyes of God.”
The Pontiff also praised “the courage and generosity” shown during the rescue operations and the American people’s ability to move forward “with hope and confidence.” He likewise called for a firm commitment to justice and a “global culture of solidarity” capable of creating the conditions for a more lasting peace.