"I remember that terrible afternoon as if it were yesterday. I called the Pope, who was at Castel Gandolfo, I gave him the news. He was shocked not only by the tragedy itself, but also because he could not explain how man could achieve this abyss of evil..."

Joaquín Navarro-Valls, a physician and journalist, for over twenty years director of the Vatican press office and a close associate of Pope John Paul II, still has the sequence of events of September 11, 2001 firmly imprinted in his mind.

What happened?
“It was early in the afternoon of September 11, I learned what had just happened in New York, the plane had crashed into the first tower. They did not know yet if it was an accident or an attack. With the second crash there was no longer any doubt...”

What did he do?
“John Paul II was in Castel Gandolfo. I called, I talked to him directly. I told him what was happening. I told him about the terrible images that CNN was broadcasting live. You could see the desperate people who threw themselves from the two struck skyscrapers.”

Do you remember what Pope John Paul II said to you?
“He was deeply shaken, saddened. But I remember that he asked himself how so heinous an attack could happen. His dismay, in front of those images went beyond pain.”

What was his reaction?
“He stayed for short time in front of the TV. Then he retired to the chapel, which is only a few steps away from the TV room. And he remained there a long time in prayer. He also wanted to get in touch with George Bush, to communicate his support, his pain, his prayer. But it was not possible to contact the president, who for security reasons was flying on Air Force One. The Pope then decided to immediately send a telegram. The next morning he dedicated mass to the victims, praying God to give eternal rest to the many victims and courage and comfort to their families.”

A few weeks later he visited Kazakhstan, a country with a Muslim majority. By that time it was the eve of the U.S. attack on Afghanistan ...
“During that trip and in the following months, even with the meeting of religious leaders in Assisi in January 2002, John Paul II wanted to tell the world that religion should not exploit the name of God to justify hatred and violence. The Pope posed the question of what was happening in that part of the Islamic world, in a dramatic way, he was aware of the need to not blame all Muslims, and at the same time believed that it was necessary to understand how and why things had degenerated so far in those jihadist fringes that promoted and justified self-immolation for such severe and inhumane acts: he felt it was due to external elements that were gradually overlaid upon the authentic religious thought and that had ended up in part by distorting it.”

How did Pope John Paul II consider the event that changed world history?
“A tragedy for all humanity, a defeat for every authentic religious spirit.”