Holy Land ‘yearns for peace,’ Pope says after visit
By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Flying back to Rome after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI offered an instant analysis of his eight-day trip, telling reporters aboard his El Al chartered jet that the visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories took him to the roots of Christianity and left him with three major impressions.
First, he said, he found among Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders a strong desire for cooperation and dialogue -- not as something motivated by political circumstances but seen as a demand of the common faith in God.
“To believe in the one God who created all of us ... and to believe that God is love and wants love to be the dominant force in the world implies this necessity of dialogue and collaboration,” he said.
The Pope said he also found a very encouraging ecumenical climate on his stops in the Holy Land, where a multitude of Christian communities live.
Finally, he said, was a yearning for peace.
“There are great problems, and we have seen them and heard about them,” the Pope said. “But I also saw a profound desire for peace on the part of everyone. The problems are more visible, and we shouldn’t hide them. They need to be cleared up. But the common desire for peace and fraternity is not as visible, and I think we need to talk about this and encourage the effort to find solutions.”
The Pope said he hoped his pilgrimage would inspire many others to follow in his footsteps to the Holy Land, and thus become “messengers of peace” themselves.
Earlier, amid billowing Israeli and Vatican flags, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed his friendship with both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, acknowledging the Palestinians’ right to an independent state as well as Israel’s right to exist in “peace and security.”
Said the Pope: “Let there be lasting peace based on justice, let there be genuine reconciliation and healing. Let the two-state solution become a reality, not remain a dream.
“Let peace spread outward from these lands; let them serve as a ‘light to the nations,’ bringing hope to the many other regions that are affected by conflict.”
Pope Benedict attempted to assure the Israelis of his friendship.
“No friend of the Israelis and the Palestinians can fail to be saddened by the continuing tension between your two peoples,” he said. “No friend can fail to weep at the suffering and loss of life that both peoples have endured over the last six decades.”
Israeli President Shimon Peres told the Pope his visit was a “profound demonstration of the enduring dialogue” between Jews and Christians around the world. He said the Pope’s statements during his visit “carried a substantive weight.”