Catholic World News News Feature

Pope reflects on visit to Holy Land May 20, 2009

Following his usual practice after a pastoral voyage, Pope Benedict XVI devoted his weekly public audience on May 20 to a recounting of his trip to the Holy Land.

Speaking to the 20,000 people who gathered in St. Peter's Square on a seasonably sunny day, the Holy Father said that his visit to Jordan and Israel, May 8 to 15, had been a "pilgrimage par excellence to the sources of the faith," as well as an opportunity to meet with the people of the region.

The understanding of his trip as a pilgrimage was firmly fixed at one of the first stops on his schedule, the Pope remarked. At Mount Nebo in Jordan, where Moses looked into the Promised Land, he said that he was struck by "our status as pilgrims." He explained that the faithful, like Moses on the mountain, are "suspended Nebo "speaks to us of our status as pilgrims", he said, "suspended between an 'already' and a 'not yet', between a promise so great and beautiful as to support us on our journey, and a realisation that surpasses us, and even surpasses this world." Later, the Pope continued, he blessed the cornerstones of two churches being built at the site of Christ's Baptism in the Jordan. The fact that those churches are being constructed, he said, is a testimony to the "respect for religious freedom and for Christian tradition" that prevails in Jordan and "merits great admiration." He reminded his audience that the Jordanian kingdom has also accepted many Palestinian refugees, thereby contributing significantly to the cause of peace in the region. He repeated his praise for Jordan's culture of tolerance, saying that concord between Christians and Muslims is essential to the stability and security of the Middle East, and voicing the hope that a similar cooperative arrangement would eventually prevail in nearby Iraq.

Moving on to Israel, the Pope emphasized that he came as both "a pilgrim of faith" and "a pilgrim of peace." He admitted: "In that Land blessed by God at times its seems impossible to escape the spiral of violence." However, he insisted, "nothing is impossible for God and for those who trust in Him!"

Pope Benedict said that he brought that message to the religious leaders he met in Jerusalem: the Grand Mufti and the Chief Rabbinate. He said that he had prayed for a successful inter-religious dialogue when he visited the Western Wall.

Although the Pope was roundly criticized by some Israeli observers for his speech at the Yad Vashem memorial, the Pontiff repeated the main theme of that speech during his Wednesday audience, again making the point that each individual victim of the Holocaust was precious. "Each human being is sacred," he said, "and his name is written in the heart of the eternal God." For that reason, he continued, "The great tragedy of the Shoah must never be forgotten."

The main pastoral purpose of the trip, the Pope reminded his audience, was to visit the Christian communities of the Holy Land. He mentioned the "culminating moments of communion" when he celebrated Mass in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth. (The Pope made a special point of noting that Catholics from Gaza attended the Eucharistic celebration in Bethlehem-- thereby indirectly responding to the disappointment expressed by some Palestinians when Gaza was left off the papal itinerary.) In Bethlehem, he said, he saw the "insecurity, isolation, uncertainty, poverty" that mark the plight of the Palestinian people, and he assured them of the Church's solidarity-- while also asking everyone "to seek peace through non-violent methods."

Near the conclusion of his visit, the Pope mentioned that he held "two important ecumenical meetings" with the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic patriarchs of Jerusalem. He said that the drive to restore full unity among Christians is closely related to the quest for peace in the Holy Land, because the united witness of the faithful is a powerful force for reconciliation and renewal. The Church, the Pope said, "is on a journey to full unity, that the world may believe in the love of God and experience the joy of his peace."