2001 AD
On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon, and one into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the deadliest attack on American soil in history.
Pope John Paul II responded with a message of peace and solidarity, saying, 'Wars can never again be waged between nations; they can only be waged against terror.' He warned against a 'clash of civilizations' and urged the United States and its allies to respond with justice rather than vengeance. Pope Benedict XVI would later echo these warnings in his 2006 Regensburg lecture, which was controversially interpreted as an attack on Islam.
The War on Terror that followed would see the United States invade Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, with consequences that continue to reshape the Middle East and global politics. Key Sources: Pope John Paul II's September 14, 2001 address; Pope Benedict XVI's Regensburg Address; US National Commission on Terrorist Attacks