President Joe Biden said “the enemies of peace will not prevail” in Northern Ireland as he pledged the United States would continue to partner and support the region in building stability and future prosperity for its young people.
In his keynote address in Belfast on 12th April, marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, President Biden said the lesson of the ground-breaking accord was that “when things seem fragile, or easily broken, that is when hope and hard work are needed the most.” “That’s why we must make our theme: repair, repair. In the holy Easter season-this season when all Christians celebrate renewal and life-the Good Friday Agreement shows us that there is hope for repair, even in the most awful breakages.”
Father McCafferty noted President Biden’s recollection of his visit to Belfast in 1991, when the city was “sliced up” by barbed wire. Today, instead of barbed wire “we find a cathedral of learning built of glass that lets the light shine in and out,” the President, who is Catholic and of Irish descent, said of the new university campus.
“We all remember so well those terrible days of barbed wire, broken glass, and lost lives. The president’s welcome visit and helpful words highlights hope,” Father McCafferty told OSV News.
“Our resilient community, which suffered so much, never lost or abandoned hope. We hoped against hope when all seemed quite hopeless.”
Picture: OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters