25 September 2022
As prepared
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start by extending my most sincere thanks to this congregation for their kind invitation to say a few words today.
I am honored to have assumed office as President of the General Assembly, and I take great pride in spiritually inaugurating my Presidency together with you.
My dear friends,
Let me begin by stating the obvious.
Our world is submerged by a wave of interlocking crises ¨C from the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to devastating climate change, through widespread violence, worsening conflicts, and inequalities of a magnitude we have not seen in decades.
How we choose to address all these challenges, will be the greatest test of our abilities, our knowledge and our resolve ¨C as well a test of our ¾±²Ô²õ³Ù¾±³Ù³Ü³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô²õ¡¯ capacity to achieve their missions.
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ was founded with the intention of bringing humanity together, of building bridges and fostering peace.
For our purposes today, I venture to reprise the words of our former Secretary-General, the late Dag Hammarskj?ld who once said: ¡°The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ was not created in order to bring us to heaven, but in order to save us from hell.¡±
This, I believe, is the link between our universal organizations: the United Nations and the communities of believers all over the world.
The Scriptures teach us to care for all that with which we have been blessed ¨C earth and people alike.
The ±«±·¡¯²õ function echoes these teachings. To all intents and purposes, its role is to ensure that our 8 billion constituents are cared for and that all their rights are protected.
And that our fragile planet is cared for and protected, too.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am saddened to admit that we, the human community, have not been doing our fair share of caring ¨C neither for our earth, nor for our peers in humanity.
As I entered my tenure as President of the 77th session of the General Assembly, I pledged to do my best to foster trust and integrity ¨C values intrinsic to both the churches of the world and the United Nations.
The crises we face are multifaceted and require multidimensional solutions. Solutions which, I believe, should be built on scientific evidence and supported by the pillars of our human existence: morality, respect, understanding, solidarity and, for so many among us, faith.
Speaking with you today let me emphasize my conviction in that both faith and science are incredibly powerful, creative forces.
Harnessed together, they hold the keys to building a peaceful and sustainable future.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
We find ourselves in the era of the Anthropocene ¨C an epochwhen we humans started to have a significant impact on the planet¡¯s natural systems.
It is an epoch in which our activity is of such a scale that we are rapidly destroying our environment, depleting the earth of its resources, and through this, deeply hurting each other.
By harming the earth ¨C we ultimately harm ourselves.
It is our duty?to curtail this destruction. And we must put a check on the devastating effects of climate change ¨C for the planet, for ourselves, and for future generations.
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Friends,
In this time of deepening conflict, growing irresponsibility and increasing precariousness, the motto I have chosen for my Presidency is as follows: Solutions through solidarity, sustainability, and science.
As President of the General Assembly, I am committed to standing for these three principles.
Let me put an emphasis on one of them: solidarity. A quality component of our human interaction. A notion that is supported both by the religions of our world and the flagship of the international community: the United Nations.
I hope you will all join me in this mission to uphold the principles reflected in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Charter and shared by the people of faith everywhere on the globe.
Together, we have the power to create a more harmonious and united world, in which all of us are included, cared for and respected, irrespective of race, gender or creed.
Let me end my statement by sharing a quote from the New Testament, ¡°If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together¡±.
This coming year, let us strive to uphold the values that we all share, let us honor all the members of our communities, and then let us rejoice together.
I thank you.