We have to start from the fact that there are always alternatives to violence.

I believe passionately in the power of people.

I was born into a Catholic family. I grew up in West Belfast. Faith was very important to us eight children and my mother and father. It was grounded in the Christian tradition of social involvement.

When I visited Auschwitz I was horrified. And when I visited Iraq, I thought to myself, 'What will we tell our children in fifty years when they ask what we did when the people in Iraq were dying.'

Everyday there are people in our world that do absolutely amazing things. People of all ages are very capable of doing tremendous, courageous things in spite of their fear.

We have really got to create a culture in our world today where we recognize that every human life is sacred and precious and we have no right to take another human life.

Our common humanity is more important than all the things that divide us.