Let There Be Dignity, Justice, Peace, Secretary-General Says at Holy Family Church Annual Prayer Service, Urging World Leaders to Choose Solidarity over Strife

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Holy Family Church Annual Prayer Service, in New York today:

For decades, this service has brought together people of many faiths, traditions and convictions for a moment of unity and clarity before the whirlwind of the General Assembly.

This unity matters. It shows that respect and solidarity are possible even in a fractured world. Clarity matters, too.

We gather today to remember why we're here: To end the injustice of poverty; to stop the madness of war and violence; to uphold the dignity of every person; and to protect our planet - our common home - for all who share it, and all who will inherit it.

These goals have never been easy - and they are getting more difficult. Across our world, we see the few exploiting the many. We see civilians paying the price of wars they did not choose.

We see the powerful insisting that might makes right. We see the risks posed by unregulated artificial intelligence, which Pope Leo XIV addressed so cogently in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. And we see the achievements of eight decades - international law, human rights, peaceful cooperation, the United Nations itself - challenged as never before.

But, let us be clear: the work of peace continues. In every life saved through humanitarian action, in every child welcomed into a classroom, in every negotiation pursued instead of conflict, in every hand extended across a divide, in every act of courage by people who refuse to give up on one another.

Across the world's spiritual and ethical traditions, we find a common message of determination and hope even - perhaps especially - when times may seem darkest. The Bible, for example, speaks of being "hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."

From the start, the United Nations has been guided by the conviction that humanity is strongest when we stand through the storms together, that solutions are forged when we come together, and that the path forward is made by those who keep walking it together.

I pray that world leaders gathering here this month will heed these lessons, and choose dialogue over division, solidarity over strife, collective action over chaos.

This is my final opportunity to take part in this service as Secretary-General. Through the years, I have often reflected on the name of this house of worship. It reminds us we are one human family, and that solidarity and our common humanity must be our guide.

At the United Nations, we repeat certain words again and again: justice, dignity, peace. In a world of division and conflict, some may ask whether these words still matter. They matter more than ever. Because these are not simply aspirations, they are obligations. And every time we repeat them in a ceremony such as this, we renew our commitment to make them real.

So, let us say them again - with our voices, with our actions and with faith in our common humanity. Let there be justice. Let there be dignity. Let there be peace.

Thank you for your unity and your clarity in this cause. And thank you for all you do to help build a world worthy of the hopes we share.