Pope Francis Delivers Powerful Message About Heroism at 9/11 Memorial: 'It Wasn't About Blood, Origin or Neighborhood

Pope Francis visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum during his first-ever trip to the United States on Friday, where he participated in an interfaith prayer event, imploring those in the audience to reject hate and violence and to embrace a spirit of reconciliation.

Before the event, the pontiff met with families of first responders who bravely rushed to assist in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with Pope Francis later offering a prayer that God grant "eternal light and peace to all who died" during the attacks.

His brief invocation followed reflections from Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue Synagogue, and Imam Khalid Latif, a chaplain at New York University, and came before additional meditations and prayers from the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions.

Pope Francis places a white rose at the South Pool of the 9/11 Memorial in downtown Manhattan, Friday, Sept. 25, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

He later delivered brief remarks, highlighting the many emotions that he experienced at the former site of the World Trade Center — a place where he said that grief is palpable.

"Water falling also symbolizes our tears, the tears shed for destructions of yesterday who are joined by so much destruction today," he said, referencing the memorial, which features flowing fountains. "It is water that reminds us of yesterday's tears."

The pontiff said that the memorial is a place where individuals mourn the September 11 attacks, decrying the "death of the innocent because we were not able to find solutions for the common good."

In addition to the pain that the memorial represents, Pope Francis said that it also offers remembrance of the "heroic goodness" that came from those who worked diligently to save others in the wake of the attack, calling the site both a place of death and of life.

Pope Francis looks at Imam Khalid Latif, right, and Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, left, shaking hands as he arrives for an interfaith service at the Sept. 11 memorial museum in New York, Friday Sept. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

"At that time it wasn't about blood, or origin, or neighborhood, or origin or political views. It was a matter of solidarity ... it was a matter of humanity," he said. "New York firemen and women came into the towers that were crumbling without much thinking about their own lives. Many fell in their duty and with their sacrifice they allowed for so many others to survive."

After proclaiming that it is "possible to live in a world of peace," Pope Francis then called for a moment of silence and prayer, imploring individuals to do so as they saw fit.