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May 11, 2009

Arriving in Israel, Pope says hopes rest on Holy Land peace

by Luigi Sandri
Ecumenical News International

TEL AVIV/AMMAN — After urging Christians not to abandon the Holy Land region while in Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI on his arrival in Israel called for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East.

“The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” said Pope Benedict in remarks at the Tel Aviv airport on May 11 where he was welcomed by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The pontiff was on the second leg of a visit to the Holy Land following three days in Jordan.

In Tel Aviv, Pope Benedict condemned anti-Semitism and said he would honor the memory of six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. He also urged a “just resolution” of the Middle East conflict to enable Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace in internationally-recognized homelands of their own.

Before Pope Benedict left Jordan, a Catholic bishop from the Middle East speaking anonymously to Ecumenical News International described the pontiff’s three-day visit to Jordan as the “easier part” of what the Pope has called a “pilgrimage” to the Holy Land.

“Now, in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian Territories begins perhaps the harder part of a trip to this region of the world that is so troubled,” the bishop said.

Jordan authorities adopted strong security measures for the visit by Pope Benedict, who in 2006 had angered Muslims in many parts of the world due to a speech at Regensburg in Germany in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who had linked Islam with violence.

Welcoming Pope Benedict to the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque in Amman on May 9, Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad Bin Talal, a cousin of Jordanian monarch Abdullah II, brought up the Regensburg speech, thanking the Pope for his “regret” that the speech had hurt Muslims.

Ghazi insisted on the necessity of dialogue, and quoted from a statement known as the “Common Word.” This document was sent by an international group of Muslim scholars, among them the prince, to Christian leaders, including the Pope. They urged Christianity and Islam to seek common ground.

Responding to the prince, Benedict said, “Muslims and Christians, precisely because of the burden of our common history so often marked by misunderstanding, must today strive to be known and recognized as worshippers of God,” keeping “the Almighty's decrees.”

The Pope also condemned the “ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends.” He said that this is often the real reason for tension between followers of different religions.
 
In his address, Benedict referred to the presence of many Iraqi refugees in Jordan, noting, “The international community’s efforts to promote peace and reconciliation, together with those of the local leaders, must continue in order to bear fruit in the lives of Iraqis.”

Regarding Iraqi Christians, represented at the meeting in the mosque by Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of the Chaldean Church, the Pope said, “I urge the international community, with local political and religious leaders, to do everything possible to ensure the ancient Christian community of that noble land its fundamental right to peaceful coexistence with their fellow citizens.”

Vatican spokesperson, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, however, told journalists that rumors Benedict would visit Iraq had “no foundation.”

Near Madaba, 25 miles from Amman, the Pope visited Mount Nebo where, according to tradition, the Old Testament leader Moses saw the Promised Land after 40 years in the desert. At Nebo, the Pope viewed the vast panorama of the Jordan Valley at a point on the mountain where even Jerusalem can be seen when the sky is clear.

On May 10, Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at Amman’s International Stadium before about 30,000 Catholics from Jordan and from other countries in the Middle East. During the liturgy the hymns were sung in Latin and in Arabic.

In his homily, Benedict asked Catholics to have the courage to remain in their countries. Later that day, the Pope reached Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, a place where, according to tradition, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.