Guiliani: Invite Clergy to 9-11 Ceremony

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urged Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reconsider his decision to bar religious leaders from speaking at the ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

"If I were the mayor, and this came up, I'd have a religious presence there," said Giuliani during an interview with The Wall Street Journal Thursday.

"I think [Bloomberg] has a right to make the decision and say, 'We're going to do it exactly the same as we did it in the past,'" Giuliani said. "He also has the ability to say, 'We'll make a slight alteration in light of how important religion was to many of these people.' It could be done very simply by just having a priest, a rabbi, a minister and an imam together and say a little prayer at the beginning."

His comments echo those of some religious leaders who say the mayor should give clergy a formal role in the ceremony.

A spokeswoman for Bloomberg, Evelyn Erskine, said Thursday that the mayor will not reverse course.

"The ceremony structure is set and will follow the same format as it has since the first commemoration in 2002," she said.

The ceremony has six moments of silence, which give participants time for personal and religious introspection, Erskine said.

"The ceremony was designed in coordination with 9/11 families with a mixture of readings that are spiritual, historical and personal in nature," Erskine said. "It has been widely supported for the past 10 years and rather than have disagreements over which religious leaders participate we would like to keep the focus of our commemoration ceremony on the family members of those who died."

With the 10th anniversary ceremony getting enormous scrutiny, the mayor has become the target of criticism. Last month, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie chided the mayor for failing to invite Donald DiFrancesco, the Garden State's governor at the time of the attacks, to speak. The mayor relented.

While clergy have had no role in prior ceremonies, religious leaders have regularly attended.

Giuliani said religion played a large role in helping people recover from 9/11.

"Hundreds and thousands of families turned to God more than they had in the past," Giuliani said. "Whether people agree or disagree with religion, it did play a major role in the healing of the city."Read more: WSJ