May 29, 2014
Please note: Opinions expressed in the following articles do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
This is a special issue of the Middle East Notes providing some commentary on Pope Francis's recent visit to Jordan, Palestine and Israel. (Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople embrace during an ecumenical celebration in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem May 25. Catholic News Service/Paul Haring)
Pilgrimage schedule of His Holiness Francis in the Holy Land
Saturday, May 24– The pope arrived in Jordan, where he met with the king and queen and other authorities. He celebrated Mass at the International Stadium in Amman, and visited the baptismal site at Bethany beyond the Jordan. He ended his first day with a meeting with refugees and disabled young people at the Latin church at Bethany.
Sunday, May 25 – The pope left Jordan in the morning and flew by helicopter to Bethlehem. He met Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and other members of the PA. The pope celebrated Mass in Manger Square, which was followed by lunch with Palestinian families at the Franciscan convent of Casa Nova in Bethlehem. He had a private visit to the Grotto of the Nativity, and then met children from the Deheisheh [Duheisha], Aida and Beit Jibrin refugee camps at the Phoenix Center of the Deheisheh Refugee Camp.
After Bethlehem, he traveled to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He met with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem, where they signed a joint declaration on this 50th anniversary of the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. He ended his day with dinner with the patriarchs and bishops and the Papal suite at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem.
Monday, May 26 – The pope visited the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in the building of the Great Council on the Esplanade of the Mosques, and then visited the Western Wall. He lay a wreath at Mount Herzl, the burial site of Theodor Herzl, founder of Zionism, in Jerusalem, and then visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial. He made a courtesy visit to the two chief rabbis at Heichal Shlomo Center in Jerusalem, next to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. He visited with both Israel’s President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After lunch, he met with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the building next to the Orthodox church of Viri Galileai on the Mount of Olives.
Late in the afternoon, he met with priests, men and women religious and seminarians in the church of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. He celebrated Mass with the ordinaries of the Holy Land in the room of the Cenacle in Jerusalem, and then returned to Rome, arriving back in Italy by 11 pm.
1) Pope Francis calls for peace in first visit to Israel
Judy Maltz, Jack Khoury, Barak Ravid
Ha’aretz, Associated Press, Reuters, May 26, 2014
Pope Francis arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon, a day after landing in the Middle East for his first visit to the Holy Land. The pope spent the morning in the West Bank and arrived in Israel later in the day.
After landing at Ben-Gurion Airport, the pope called on Israelis and Palestinians to leave 'no stone unturned' in the quest for peace in the Middle East. Speaking before him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel extends its hand in peace, while President Shimon Peres thanked the pope for his unrelenting stance against anti-Semitism.
The pope, Netanyahu and Peres each condemned the terror attack in Brussels on Saturday, in which three people were killed - two of them Israelis. Veering off a prepared text, Francis deplored "this criminal act of anti-Semitic hatred." "With a deeply pained heart, I think of those who have lost their lives in the cruel attack that occurred yesterday in Brussels," he said. "I entrust the victims to God's mercy and invoke recovery for the injured."
Speaking earlier in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, the Pope made a plea for peace, saying the prolonged Israel-Palestinian conflict had become unacceptable. At the end of an open-air Mass, Francis invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to the Vatican to pray for peace. His invitation was accepted by both leaders.
Francis delighted his hosts in the West Bank by referring directly to the "state of Palestine," giving support for their bid for full statehood recognition in the face of a paralyzed peace process. However Francis made clear that a negotiated accord was needed, calling on leaders from both sides to show the necessary courage to forge a deal.
"For the good of all, there is a need to intensify efforts and initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for a stable peace based on justice, on the recognition of the rights of every individual, and on mutual security," he said.
The offices of the Israeli and Palestinian presidents confirmed that they have accepted an invitation from Pope Francis to visit the Vatican together next month, joining the pope in a prayer for peace.
2) Bethlehem walls transformed in presence of Holy See
Alex Shams, Ma’an News Agency, May 26, 2014
In advance of Pope Francis' visit to the Holy Land on Sunday, Bethlehem residents and officials have been busy covering the city in posters to celebrate his first official visit. Large banners depicting His Holiness beside President Mahmoud Abbas cover major intersections, while more humble posters hang from shops and homes welcoming him on behalf of individual Bethlehem families.
In Bethlehem’s historic Manger Square, however, the Pope will be greeted by a dramatically different scene: huge renderings of classical European paintings of Biblical suffering, juxtaposed against contemporary photographs of Palestinian life.
The startling images are part of a project entitled "In the presence of the Holy See" by the Palestinian Museum to welcome the Pope in an altogether unique way by examining the Palestinian experience in relationship to one of the land's most famous martyrs, Jesus Christ. [Ed. note: These are amazing pictures and we strongly encourage you to view them.]
The banners include scenes of the lamentation of Christ beside a woman sifting through possessions after an Israeli attack on Jenin refugee camp and a man carrying away a body that is simultaneously a Palestinian killed by Israeli fire and the martyred Christ, among others.
Museum director John Persekian told Ma'an that the images are meant to help viewers, including the Pope, reframe the Palestinian issue and understand it through a more "humane" lens while also exploring the relevance of Christian teachings today.
"We were trying to take the Christian message and teachings and juxtapose them with the current situation, to help us think through what has happened over the last 66 years," he said. "How do we understand these experiences in relationship to messages of faith, peace, love, forgiveness, and the existence of a just God?" he added.
The banners are being hosted not only in Manger Square but also in nearby Duheisha refugee camp, home to nearly 15,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes by Zionist militias in the 1948 war that led to the creation of the state of Israel.
In Jordan on Saturday, the pope met with Syrian refugee children, and on Sunday he plans to meet with children in Duheisha where he will see the banners. As the Syrian conflict has driven a massive exodus from the country in recent years, the situation of Palestinian refugees – who have been denied the right of return to their homes by Israel for 66 years – looms large in the background.
"What does it mean to be humiliated for so long?" Persekian asks. "What does it tell us about faith of the dispossessed people?"
The juxtaposition of classical paintings beside black-and-white photographs creates a powerful parallel that highlights the universality of suffering even as it draws upon specific historical examples. At the same time, Persekian says that the works hold a mirror up to the Western world and the disparate responses it has had to the suffering of the most famous Palestinian martyr Jesus and the suffering of his ancestors, the contemporary Palestinians.
"How has the world looked at and treated the Palestinians, especially the Western world where the majority is Christian? How have they applied these values?" he asked.
These questions will be at the forefront of many minds on Sunday, as the pope – who is the head of a church of more than one billion people worldwide – comes to visit the little town of Bethlehem.
3) Pope Francis made an unprecedented gesture in Jerusalem
Nick Squires, The Telegraph, May 25, 2014
Pope Francis prayed in silence and pressed his forehead against the wall that separates Jerusalem from the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Sunday, during a visit which Palestinians claimed as affirmation of their claim to statehood.
In an unscheduled stop during his visit to Bethlehem, the town where Christ was born, the Pope ordered his white Popemobile to stop as it passed the separation barrier built by the Israelis.
He prayed for a few minutes at the graffiti-daubed section of the wall, beneath a watch tower manned by Israeli soldiers. “He got down from the Popemobile and walked up to the wall," said the Rev Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. "He remained there for some minutes, praying silently. He then touched the wall with his forehead."
It was an unprecedented gesture which delighted Palestinians. They were also pleased that during his various addresses in Bethlehem, Francis used the term "State of Palestine."
His decision to travel to Bethlehem by helicopter direct from Amman, where he spent the first day of his three-day visit to the Holy Land, was also interpreted by both Christian and Muslim Palestinians as tacit recognition of the fight for a Palestinian homeland.
“The fact that he came straight from Jordan is a sign that the Pope sees Palestine as a state,” said Ilias Abdo, 59, a Christian clergyman from Bethlehem. “That was a deliberate decision — it was not by chance. This is a political visit as much as a religious one. He is hinting at recognition of an independent Palestinian state.”
George Zaineh, 55, a Christian from Bethlehem and the leader of a Scout troop, said: “His arrival from Amman straight to Bethlehem, without going through Israel, is very symbolic for statehood. He’s showing sympathy for the Palestinian people, who are besieged by the separation wall.”
Nayef Soboh, the Muslim owner of a kebab shop, said: “We are living under the last occupation in the world and the Pope knows that.” Ashraf Khatib, a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said: “This is not just a religious visit but a visit by the head of state of the Vatican City State to the state of Palestine. It shows that the Vatican supports the rights of Palestinians and their pursuit of independence and sovereignty.”
The Pope said Mass in Manger Square in the heart of Bethlehem's old town, where he was greeted by cheering crowds who waved the Vatican and Palestinian flags.
He said Mass and delivered a homily in front of a colourful tableau depicting the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph being greeted by the three previous Popes to have visited Bethlehem — Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
But an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman played down the pope's decision to pray at the separation barrier but accused the Palestinians of turning his visit into a "propaganda stunt" by trumpeting the fact that the pontiff has referred to the "state of Palestine," terminology Israel opposes.
"We had expected that the pope would make a human gesture. There's nothing political here," the spokesman said, referring to the praying incident. "The Vatican has recognised Palestine as a state a long time ago, not that we liked at the time but it's a bit surprising that the Palestinians are making it sound as if it's something new. They are turning the visit into a whole propaganda stunt but that's what they do and the Vatican plays along with it and so be it. We will find the time to speak with the Vatican through diplomatic channels about this.
"Rather than have a head of state and head of the Catholic church come here and give his blessings, the Palestinians are turning his visit into a compilation of political grievances."
4) Pope prays at Bethlehem wall between Israel, “State of Palestine,” calls for Middle East peace
Philip Pullella and Noah Browning, Reuters, May 25, 2014
Pope Francis made a surprise stop on Sunday at the wall Palestinians abhor as a symbol of Israeli oppression, and later invited presidents from both sides of the divide to the Vatican to pray for peace.
In an image likely to become the most emblematic of his trip to the holy land, Francis rested his forehead against the concrete structure that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and prayed silently. He stood at a spot where someone had sprayed in red paint "Free Palestine." Above his head was graffiti in broken English reading: "Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto," comparing the Palestinians' plight with that of the Jews under the Nazis.
Such imagery seemed likely to cause unease among Israel's leaders, who say the barrier, erected 10 years ago during a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings, is needed to secure its security. Palestinians see it as a bid by Israel to partition off territory and grab land.
On the second leg of a three-day trip to the Middle East, Francis delighted his Palestinian hosts by referring to the "state of Palestine," giving support for their bid for full statehood recognition in the face of a paralyzed peace process.
But, speaking at the birthplace of Jesus in the Palestinian-run city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he made clear that a negotiated accord was needed, calling on leaders from both sides to overcome their myriad divisions.
Francis invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to come to the Vatican to pray for an end to the enduring conflict, just a month after the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks. "In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace," the Pope said at an open-air Mass in Bethlehem.
Both accepted, their respective staff said. Palestinian official Hana Amira said the meeting would take place on June 6, just under two months before the veteran Israeli leader leaves office. But it seemed unlikely that Peres would receive any mandate from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate with Abbas on renewing direct talks.
Netanyahu has said Israel would not consider resuming negotiations unless Abbas reneged on a unity pact with Hamas, one of its most bitter enemies which rules in Gaza. Abbas has said a new government envisaged by the accord would be committed to peace.
From Bethlehem, where the Pope also visited a Palestinian refugee camp, he flew by helicopter to Tel Aviv airport where he was welcomed by Peres and Netanyahu, before flying back over the Judean hills to Jerusalem. In a speech at the ceremony, Francis invoked "the right of the State of Israel to exist and to flourish in peace and security within internationally recognized boundaries."
At the same time, he said there must be "recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to a sovereign homeland and their right to live with dignity and with freedom of movement."
The Pope also recalled the Holocaust, using the Hebrew word for the term, Shoah, and said that "ever mindful of the past" there can be "no place for anti-Semitism." "A particularly moving part of my stay will be my visit to the Yad Vashem Memorial to the six million Jews who were victims of the Shoah," the Argentinian pontiff said. "I beg God that there will never be another such crime, which also counted among its victims many Christians and others."
Peres, welcoming the Pope in blustery winds but warm sunshine, said: "We are grateful to you for assuming your sensitive and resolute stand against all expressions of anti-Semitism, against all manifestations of racism."
Francis started the day in Jordan and had flown straight to Bethlehem, becoming the first pontiff to travel directly to the West Bank rather than to enter via Israel - another nod to Palestinian statehood aspirations.
He later met refugees from camps set up after the 1948 creation of Israel, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to abandon their homes. Children held up printed signs in English and Arabic saying "the right of return is our sacred right" and "injustice and oppression must end."
In the evening, Francis prayed for Christian unity with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. It was first time various branches of Christianity prayed together inside the centuries-old structure where Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. They usually are governed by strict rules of separation dating back to the Ottoman Empire.
The meeting was the main religious purpose of the trip, timed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of Catholic and Orthodox leaders, whose Churches split in 1054.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by Peter Graff, David Stamp, Jeremy Gaunt)
We count on Your Holiness to contribute towards enabling our people to attain their freedom and full independence, by bringing the Israeli occupation to a complete end and establishing an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Your Holiness, you saw the monstrous wall being constructed by Israel, the occupying power on our land, at a time when we desperately needed to build bridges of communication and dialogue rather than anything that would sow the seeds of hatred, malice, and hostility. We, the people, are looking to live in freedom and dignity and to have sovereignty over our national soil, away from the occupation.
We have fully updated His Holiness on the outcome of the peace process and the pitfalls and obstacles which befell it, primarily the settlement enterprise, and daily attacks on places of worship including churches and mosques, as well as the continued detention of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who yearn for freedom. A number of these prisoners have been on hunger strike for more than 30 days in protest against ill-treatment and detention without trial or verdict, under the pretext of "administrative detention."
6) Pope to Abbas: You are known as a man of peace
The following is the official translation of the full text of Pope Francis' speech at the Palestinian president palace beside Mahmoud Abbas Sunday morning.
Mr. President, dear friends,
I thank President Mahmoud Abbas for his kind welcome and I offer cordial greetings to the representatives of the government and the entire Palestinian people. I thank the Lord for the opportunity to be here with you today in the birthplace of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I thank all of you for your warm reception.
For decades the Middle East has known the tragic consequences of a protracted conflict which has inflicted many wounds so difficult to heal. Even in the absence of violence, the climate of instability and a lack of mutual understanding have produced insecurity, the violation of rights, isolation and the flight of entire communities, conflicts, shortages and sufferings of every sort.
In expressing my closeness to those who suffer most from this conflict, I wish to state my heartfelt conviction that the time has come to put an end to this situation which has become increasingly unacceptable. For the good of all, there is a need to intensify efforts and initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for a stable peace based on justice, on the recognition of the rights of every individual, and on mutual security. The time has come for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative in the service of the common good, the courage to forge a peace which rests on the acknowledgment by all of the right of two States to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognized borders.
To this end, I can only express my profound hope that all will refrain from initiatives and actions which contradict the stated desire to reach a true agreement, and that peace will be pursued with tireless determination and tenacity. Peace will bring countless benefits for the peoples of this region and for the world as a whole. And so it must resolutely be pursued, even if each side has to make certain sacrifices.
I pray that the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and their respective leaders will undertake this promising journey of peace with the same courage and steadfastness needed for every journey. Peace in security and mutual trust will become the stable frame of reference for confronting and resolving every other problem, and thus provide an opportunity for a balanced development, one which can serve as a model for other crisis areas.
Here I would like to say a word about the active Christian community which contributes significantly to the common good of society, sharing in the joys and sufferings of the whole people. Christians desire to continue in this role as full citizens, along with their fellow citizens, whom they regard as their brothers and sisters.
Mr. President, you are known as a man of peace and a peacemaker. Our recent meeting in the Vatican and my presence today in Palestine attest to the good relations existing between the Holy See and the State of Palestine. I trust that these relations can further develop for the good of all. In this regard, I express my appreciation for the efforts being made to draft an agreement between the parties regarding various aspects of the life of the Catholic community in this country, with particular attention to religious freedom. Respect for this fundamental human right is, in fact, one of the essential conditions for peace, fraternity and harmony. It tells the world that it is possible and necessary to build harmony and understanding between different cultures and religions. It also testifies to the fact that, since the important things we share are so many, it is possible to find a means of serene, ordered and peaceful coexistence, accepting our differences and rejoicing that, as children of the one God, we are all brothers and sisters.
Mr. President, dear friends gathered here in Bethlehem: may Almighty God bless you, protect you and grant you the wisdom and strength needed to continue courageously along the path to peace, so that swords will be turned into ploughshares and this land will once more flourish in prosperity and concord. Salaam!
7) Pope Francis balances time with Israelis and Palestinians during visit to Holy Land
William Booth and Ruth Eglash, Washington Post, May 26, 2014
Proving himself to be a shrewd diplomat, Pope Francis on Monday reached out to Jewish Israelis by kissing the hands of elderly Holocaust survivors at a memorial, praying at the holiest Jewish site in Jerusalem — the Western Wall — and later placing a wreath at the grave of the founder of Zionism. And at the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the pontiff added an unplanned stop at an Israeli monument to commemorate the civilian and military victims of terror attacks.
The pope’s unscheduled trip to the terror victims’ memorial was added by the Vatican after Israeli authorities privately complained about the pontiff’s photo op Sunday at a controversial security barrier in Bethlehem separating Israel and the West Bank, according to an account from a Western diplomat in Jerusalem.
The new pope, 15 months into his job, demonstrated a canny ability to calm emotions in a region beset by religious and political frictions on a three-day trip to the Holy Land that ended Monday. The pontiff had said his visit would be “strictly religious,” but it was not.
Francis on Sunday secured a promise from Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him at the Vatican next month to pray together and talk peace. While his efforts may lead to nothing, Francis at least has gotten the two sides to start talking again after Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s negotiations collapsed in a round of bitter recriminations in April.
Asked what the three men might discuss, a Vatican spokesman said: “The pope does not have a political agenda and does not have a proposal for diplomatic dialogue. This is not his mission. This is not what he desires.”
In a marathon schedule that saw the 77-year-old pontiff attend more than 30 events in 55 hours, the pope seemed willing to acknowledge the often-conflicting narratives of suffering from both Israelis and Palestinians. He also was a gracious guest in Jordan, showering Jordan’s ruling monarch, King Abdullah II, himself a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad, with praise for his people’s generosity. There are about 600,000 registered Syrian refugees and 250,000 Iraqis who live in Jordan after fleeing war and chaos in their homelands.
On Sunday, the pontiff prayed in Bethlehem at a section of the high cement wall that recently had been spray-painted with graffiti reading “Free Palestine” and comparing Bethlehem, surrounded by barriers on three sides in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw during the reign of the Nazis. The photograph of the pope at the wall was published widely in news reports and social media around the world, and Vatican and Israeli officials acknowledged that Netanyahu was troubled by the stop.
According to the prime minister’s office, Netanyahu said he “explained to the pope that building the security fence prevented many more victims [of] Palestinian terror, which continues today.” A Vatican spokesman conceded that “some had difficulty understanding his act at the wall yesterday.”
Pope Francis on Monday made history as the first pope to visit the tomb of Theodor Herzl, one of the founders of Zionism and a leading advocate for the creation of the state of Israel.
Francis also visited with the grand mufti of Jerusalem, the caretaker of Islam’s holy places here, and a guardian of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, believed by Jews to be the place where Abraham’s hand was stopped by God as he was about to sacrifice his son Isaac and by Muslims as the place where the prophet Muhammad began his night journey to heaven.
The pontiff also visited the Western Wall, part of a retaining wall around the raised esplanade where the Jewish temple once stood. Pope Francis left a note in one of the crevices between the ancient stones, and he was embraced there by two old friends from Buenos Aires, one a rabbi and the other a leader of Argentina’s small Muslim community.
“What was new and was impacting this morning was the embrace of three people before the wall. The pope, the rabbi and the Muslim representative. ... They have given us a sign in a significant and holy place. This is an important message, that they can embrace together,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office.
During his 45 minutes at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, the pope laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance to the six million Jews who were killed and met with six Holocaust survivors who shared with him their stories of survival. One by one, the pope bent and kissed their hands.
He wrote in the guest book: “With shame for what man, who was created in the image of God, was able to do; with shame for the fact that man made himself the owner of evil; with shame that man made himself into God and sacrificed his brothers.” He signed his note: “Never again!! Never again!! Francis.”