Archbishop Charles Chaput told the Register, “I think Pope John Paul II addressed this part in English because in some ways those problems are especially present in North America and in an unique way in the United States.
“[I]t was a way to remind us our responsibility,” he added. “I hope that people of the South of the Americas won't follow our example, but will be an example to us and will change this culture of death”.
In English, the Pope said: “The Apostle Paul teaches us that in the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of a woman, to redeem us from sin and to make us his sons and daughters. Accordingly, we are no longer servants but children and heirs of God (cf Gal 4:4-7). Therefore, the Church must proclaim the Gospel of life and speak out with prophetic force against the culture of death. May the Continent of Hope also be the Continent of Life! This is our cry: life with dignity for all! For all who have been conceived in their mother's womb, for street children, for indigenous peoples and Afro-Americans, for immigrants and refugees, for the young deprived of opportunity, for the old, for those who suffer any kind of poverty or marginalization.
“Dear brothers and sisters, the time has come to banish once and for all from the Continent every attack against life. No more violence, terrorism and drug-trafficking! No more torture or other forms of abuse! There must be an end to the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty! No more exploitation of the weak, racial discriminations or ghettoes of poverty! Never again! These are intolerable evils which cry out to heaven and call Christians to a different way of living , to a social commitment more in keeping with their faith. We must rouse the consciences of men and women with the Gospel, in order to highlight their sublime vocation as children of God. This will inspire them to build a better America. As a matter of urgency, we must stir up a new springtime of holiness on the Continent so that action and contemplation will go hand in hand.”
— Alejandro Bermudez
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