杏MAP导航

By Giampaolo Mattei

Kim Phúc Pahn Thi and Nick Ut know war well. On 8 June 1972, in Vietnam, napalm bombs rained down on the village of Trang Bàn, some 40 kilometres west of Saigon.

Nick Ut 鈥榗aptured鈥� in a single shot the desperation of young Kim 鈥� only nine-years-old at the time 鈥� running from the fire, her clothes burned off her by the napalm. That photograph became one of the most iconic images of the 20th century.

Kim, who is now 59-years-old, says, 鈥淗alf a century later, as a survivor, I allow myself to say that we do not want war, but peace. Because the world needs peace.鈥� And it is with this commitment to peace that they are working, again together, on a documentary entitled 鈥淭he Napalm Girl.鈥�

NIck Ut (C), holding his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, and Kim Phúc Pahn Thi (L) at Wednesday's General Audience.

鈥淭hat morning it was raining bombs on the village; everyone was running away,鈥� recalls Nick, now 71, who was on the front line as a photojournalist. 鈥淚 saw a bomb explode on a pagoda. I thought no one was inside but instead, through the smoke, I caught a glimpse of Kim's grandmother holding a baby, dead in her arms. The next thing I saw was Kim shouting 鈥楬elp me!鈥� I stopped taking pictures after one shot, that shot: I had to act. I grabbed water and threw it on her. I loaded many children into the van and took them to the hospital.鈥�

Back in his office in Saigon, Nick developed the photo that quickly became 鈥渢he shot that tells the story of the war in Vietnam,鈥� and for which Ut won the Pulitzer Prize.

Childhood lost to war

Kim has her own memories of that day.

鈥淭hat image keeps reminding me that I lost my childhood. Only with time, however, did I realise its value. At first I hated it, I saw humiliation in it: a child exposed to the world while, naked, she cries out in despair. I was also helped, treated: 14 months in hospital and 17 operations, without paying for anything.鈥�

Almost half a century later, Kim and Nick were together in St Peter's Square to meet 杏MAP导航 Francis, declaring once again that war is madness. That is why they gave the 杏MAP导航 a copy, with both of their signatures, of the photo that has been declaring 鈥榥o to war鈥� for almost fifty years.

杏MAP导航 Francis reiterated his opposition to war this morning, as he also welcomed two young women who are experiencing the horrors of another conflict, the war in Ukraine. They are the wives of Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion barricaded in the Mariupol steelworks. Standing up to greet them, 杏MAP导航 Francis clasped their hands in a gesture of prayer.