Holy Land - Following in Jesus' Footsteps - CWR Staff

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Following Jesus’ Footsteps
With a week-long trip to the Holy Land, Pope John Paul fulfilled one
of his fondest hopes, and set a new tone for the Jubilee year.

Even before Pope John Paul II left Rome to begin his historic March pilgrimage to the Holy Land, there was a palpable sense of excitement among the people of Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, who would soon be his hosts.

In Jerusalem, the Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah encouraged the Catholic faithful to pray for the success of the pilgrimage. At the same time, he cautioned reporters against placing too much emphasis on the political implications of the papal visit. This would be a spiritual pilgrimage, the prelate insisted, not a political mission. And the patriarch did his best to discourage the politicians and journalists who were suggesting the sort of language that they thought would be appropriate for the Pontiff’s public statements. “What the Pope will say, when he visits the Holocaust museum or the Dheisheh refugee camp, will be decided by the Pope himself,” Patriarch Sabbah said.

Meanwhile, in Amman, Jordan’s King Abdullah was telling an Italian Catholic magazine that he was anxiously looking forward to the Pope’s visit. Then—quickly injecting a political note —the king added that Jerusalem should one day be the capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state. The Jordanian ruler told Famiglia Cristiana, “The city must remain the symbol of peace and hope for the whole region and must not be the exclusive capital of one people at the expense of the other.” He added, “We believe that in Jerusalem, there is room for two capitals of two independent states.”

Yasser Arafat, too, was making last-minute plans for the papal visit. During an earlier visit at the Vatican, the Palestinian leader had invited Pope John Paul to visit the ancient city of Jericho. The Holy See did not provide an immediate response to that invitation, and as the final details for the Pope’s visit were being planned, rumors circulated in Rome about a possible last-minute addition to the schedule: presumably a trip to Jericho. Any such trip would involve serious security concerns, and raise unavoidable political overtones; the area surrounding Jericho has been troubled by tensions since the killing of Muslim worshipers by a Jewish fanatic there.

On March 15 Italian reporters broke the story that the Pope would not visit Jericho itself, but he would make a short, quiet trip to nearby al-Maghtas, on the Jordan River. Al-Maghtas is one of two sites which pose rival claims to represent the spot where Jesus was baptized by St. John the Baptist. (Christians in Jordan lay claim to a different site on the opposite bank of the river, Wadi al-Kharrar, as the spot of the baptism.)

The final days of preparation for the papal visit also saw a flurry of activity on restoration projects, especially in Jerusalem. In a rare display of ecumenical harmony, the joint custodians of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had worked together to make that ancient church ready for the Pope’s visit. And on March 16 restoration officials announced the completion of a $1 million project to refurbish the Via Dolorosa. Chief architect Peter Bugod said the project’s designers had been careful to preserve it as “a road you have to make an effort to walk on.” Workers installed lighted numbers pointing out nine of the 14 stations marking the spots along the Way of the Cross; the last five stations are located inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Jerusalem was ready to receive its distinguished guest. Police patrols had been reinforced to provide extra security for the papal delegation. Sidewalk shops near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been ordered to close during the Pope’s visit, to relieve the crush of traffic. A special “Popemobile” had been designed: a slim vehicle, custom-made to carry the Pontiff through the narrow cobbled streets of the Old City, many of which are not wide enough to accommodate ordinary vehicles.

Finally the time arrived, and the historic trip began. Pope John Paul arrived in Amman, Jordan, early in the afternoon of March 20, beginning his long-awaited pilgrimage.

The Pope’s plane arrived at the Amman airport after a four-hour flight from Rome; it was accompanied on the last leg of that flight by an escort of Mirage jets from the Jordanian air force. At an airport welcoming ceremony, the Holy Father was greeted by King Abdullah II as he stepped off the plane, and the two walked together down a long red carpet to meet other waiting dignitaries under a large colored tent.

In his formal remarks, the Pope noted that “since the beginning of my ministry as Bishop of Rome, I have had a great desire” to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For months the Holy Father had pointed toward the Jubilee year as the time for that pilgrimage, but in fact at the very beginning of his papacy, in 1978, he expressed the wish that he might sometime be able to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem.

Addressing himself directly to King Abdullah, and saluting both the current king and his father, King Hussein, for their efforts on behalf of peace in the Middle East, the Pope said that all believers—Christian, Muslim, and Jewish —should recognize themselves as “one people and one single family.” He added that in the Middle East, “there are serious and urgent questions regarding justice, the rights of peoples and of nations, which must be resolved for the welfare of everyone involved.” The resolution to these problems, he said, is “a condition for a durable peace.”

King Abdullah, in his own remarks, welcomed the Pontiff as “a man of peace” as well as “a believer in God” and “a symbol of all that is pure and noble in this life.” Speaking more explicitly about the peace process, he said that he hoped for a solution that would give hope to the Palestinian people in their desire for justice, while guaranteeing the security of Israel and the stability and integrity of Lebanon. He also mentioned the suffering of the people of Iraq under an American-led embargo.

On March 20, John Paul made his pilgrimage to Mount Nebo—where, like Moses, he looked out over the Promised Land.

Situated about 15 miles southwest of Amman, in the middle of the Jordan River valley, Mount Nebo is about 2500 feet high, and from the peak one can see far into the hills of Judea and Samaria. Although the Pope’s visit came on a sunny day, a bit of haze in the distance obscured the view of Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the skyline of Jerusalem. But the Pope did his best to make out the various sites, aided by a local Franciscan priest who pointed out various landmarks to him.

About 20 Franciscan monks welcomed the Pope to Mount Nebo, where a small metal shelter has been built around the ruins of a 6th-century sanctuary—which in turn was built on the site traditionally believed to be where Moses stopped to look into the Promised Land before his death. There, inside the ancient walls, the Pope and the bishops of Jordan took part in a short prayer service, and the Pope prayed on the spot marked as the burial place of Moses. A children’s choir sang Latin and Arabic chants for the service. After the ceremony, the Pope greeted each youngster individually—doing so with obvious enjoyment.

The following day, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in a downtown athletic stadium in Amman. During the celebration—which honored St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Jordan—the Pope presided at the First Communion of 2,000 children. In total, about 35,000 people attended the Mass.

When the Pope first arrived in the stadium, riding in his Popemobile, there was an enthusiastic welcome, and as he rode in a circuit around the facility, dozens of young people ran after the car—with security officials allowing unusual freedom to the crowd.

In his homily, delivered in English, the Holy Father spoke of the biblical importance of the land now known as Jordan. He pointed out that the city of Amman, identified in the Old Testament as Rabba, was the spot where King David lived when he took Bathsheba as his wife, and caused the death of her husband Ur the Hittite. Then the Pontiff went on to point out that God had mercy on King David despite his sin. He went on to recall how many prophets had testified to the faithlessness of God’s people—up to and including St. John the Baptist, “the voice crying out in the wilderness.” The Pope closed this line of thought with the observation that Jesus himself preached in Jordan.

On March 21 the Pope wrapped up his visit to Jordan with an afternoon trip to Wadi al-Kharrar. In 1997, archeologists reached the conclusion that Wadi al-Kharrar—which is located well below sea level, not far from the Dead Sea—could be the site of Jesus’ baptism. The archeologists, teaming with Franciscans from the Studium Biblicum on Mount Nebo, discovered the remains of churches on the site, including a 4th-century Byzantine monastery and some caves of the sort that were occupied by hermits. An ambitious restoration project was quickly undertaken to open the site for visitors in time for the Jubilee.

The Pope’s visit did not settle a dispute between proponents of two different sites which lay claim to being the spot of Christ’s baptism. Pope John Paul showed no interest in injecting himself into that archeological dispute. Instead, he remarked that while “the two banks of the rivers are visited by groups of pilgrims,” nevertheless “they all give honor to the baptism of our Lord.”

As he arrived in Tel Aviv to continue his historic pilgrimage into Israel, Pope John Paul said to his hosts: “We must struggle always and everywhere to present the true face of Jews and Judaism, of Christians and Christianity, at every level of understanding, teaching, and communication.”

The Holy Father arrived at the Tel Aviv airport in the afternoon on March 21, after a half-hour flight from Jordan. In an airport ceremony held in a light rain, the Pontiff was welcomed by Israel’s President Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Ehud Barak. In his remarks, the Pope summarized the purposes of his visit to the Holy Land. “My dear Israeli brothers,” he said, “it is with profound emotion that I touch the soil of the land were God chose to ‘place his tent,’ thus allowing man to meet him in the most direct manner.” Emphasizing his strong desire to visit the Holy Land during the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, the Pope stressed that this visit was a “personal pilgrimage” that would take “the Bishop of Rome to the origins of our faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The Pontiff added that his own “personal pilgrimage” could be seen as “homage to the three religious traditions that coexist on this land.” He prayed that “my visit will contribute to the growth of inter-religious dialogue” which in turn could help to furnish “the motivation and perseverance to work for that peace and that justice that all the peoples of the Holy Land do not yet have, but to which they all fervently aspire.”

Speaking in Hebrew, Israeli President Weizman welcomed Pope John Paul II to his country, as darkness gathered and a soft rain fell on the airport. The Israeli head of state observed that Israel is “the spiritual center of the Jewish people,” and said that in the Jewish state there is “peace and serenity” among the believers of all faiths. He added: “It is important that the sons and daughters of the Church understand the reality of modern Israel.” He praised Pope John Paul for “your contribution to the condemnation of anti-Semitism as a sin against heaven and against humanity.” And he added his praise for “your plea for pardon for the past actions committed against the Jews by members of the Church.”

After the airport greeting ceremony —at which he met personally with leaders of the Israeli government, the local Catholic hierarchy, the rabbis of Jerusalem, and the Muslim leaders of the region—Pope John Paul boarded a helicopter for the trip to Jerusalem, where he would spend the next several nights at the residence of the apostolic nuncio.

Just after the Pope’s arrival, Patriarch Michel Sabbah said that the Pope “has a prophetic voice, and political leaders should listen to him.” The patriarch, who is an Arab himself, made a particularly forceful statement on the status of Jerusalem—a bone of contention between Israel and the Holy See. He remarked that “religious freedom is not adequate” in the city. The patriarch argued that “everyone, Israeli or Palestinian, should have the same rights; no one should have the impression that he is not welcome in Jerusalem.” The patriarch continued by observing that while Pope John Paul does not often speak in political terms, he carries “a message of truth and of justice” that should guide politicians.

Few people were as anxious to hear that “message of truth and justice” as the residents of the Dheisheh refugee camp. “I can’t even begin to describe the atmosphere in Dheisheh,” one resident told reporters on the eve of a papal visit on March 22. “It is so exciting to be here —so exciting.”

Pope John Paul arrived on Palestinian soil on March 22, and immediately expressed his sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian people. “Peace for the Palestinian people! Peace for all peoples of the region!” the Holy Father said as he arrived in Bethlehem. “No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people have had to suffer in recent decades. Your torment is before the eyes of the world, and it has gone on too long.”

The Pontiff was warmly greeted by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at his presidential palace. After the short helicopter ride from Jerusalem, where he was staying during his trip to the Holy Land, the Pope kissed the Palestinian soil offered to him by a pair of young children in a bowl—a custom he has developed since his declining health made it impossible for him to kneel and kiss the ground of each new country he visited. Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls cautioned reporters should not interpret that gesture as a signal of Vatican recognition for the Palestinian state. Rather, he said, “It would be strange if the Pope did not embrace the ground of the place where Jesus was born.”

“The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian people have the natural right to a homeland,” the Pontiff told Arafat and his guests. He added that “my predecessors and I have repeatedly claimed that there would be no end to the sad conflict in the Holy Land without stable guarantees for the rights of all the peoples involved, on the basis of international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions and declarations.”

From Bethlehem the Pontiff traveled to the Dheisheh camp, which was built in 1948 to accommodate Palestinians driven from their villages during the quest for Israeli statehood. After a quick tour through the camp—which now has 8,000 inhabitants—the Pope stopped in a cinder-block schoolroom to make his remarks about the “degrading” conditions in which the refugees have now been living for more than half a century.

“Only a resolute commitment on the part of the leaders of the Middle East, and of the international community in general, can solve the causes of your current situation,” the Pope said. He then issued a call for all political leaders to make their contributions to the peace process. The Pope saluted the humanitarian agencies which work with Palestinian refugees, urging them “do not be discouraged.” In particular he singled out the Catholic services and the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, which helps to administer dozens of camps in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—serving a total of over two million Palestinian refugees.

“I pray that my visit will bring you a bit of consolation in your suffering,” the Pope told the residents of the Dheisheh camp. He also said that he hoped his visit would call public attention to the plight of the refugee population. At the conclusion of his remarks, the Pope spoke extemporaneously for several minutes, concentrating his attention on the young people in his audience. “You can never allow yourselves to think that your current condition makes you any less important in the eyes of God,” he assured them.

Pope John Paul celebrated Mass on March 22 in the basilica built upon the spot in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The ancient Basilica of the Nativity, in Manger Square, faces a small mosque on the opposite side of the square. The church is jointly maintained by Latin-rite Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox clergy.

“Bethlehem is at the center of my Jubilee pilgrimage,” the Pope commented during his homily. This is the place, he observed, where “the eternal entered into history, to remain with us forever.” The birth of Jesus was not a manifestation of earthly power, the Holy Father remarked. On the contrary, the Lord was born amidst poverty and neglect; his kingdom was not to be an earthly kingdom but a victory of good over evil, “the definitive victory over sin and death.” And that victory, he continued, can “transform our weak nature and make us capable of living in peace with one another and in communion with God.”

The papal Mass was briefly interrupted, just as the Holy Father finished his homily, when the muezzin at the Omar Mosque on the opposite side of the square began his noon-time call to prayer. The Pope and the hundreds of Christians who had crowded into the basilica waited for several minutes in prayerful silence until the muezzin’s call ended.

The organizers of the papal trip were not at all disturbed by the interruption. On the contrary, Joaquin Navarro-Valls observed that the muezzin’s call, and the silent Catholic reaction, were “just something that happened, in a very mutual and respectful way.” Patriarch Sabbah suggested that the Islamic call to prayer, heard in the midst of a Catholic service, symbolized the unity of the Palestinian people across religious lines. “We spoke of love and the muezzin said ‘Allah Akbar,’ and both are an assertion of Muslim and Christian unity within this city,” said the patriarch.

Even before reaching Bethlehem, Pope John Paul had made his short, unpublicized visit to al-Maghtas. That visit—which was deliberately downplayed because of the intense emotions surrounding the ancient town of Jericho—allowed just enough time for the Holy Father to comment on the significance of baptism. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio in the Holy Land and one of the few people to accompany the Pontiff on his visit, described a “very simple, but powerfully moving” ceremony.

In an emotional appearance on March 23 at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Pope John Paul emphasized that “ the Catholic Church, motivated by the Gospel law of truth and love, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place.”

Early in the morning, the Holy Father had enjoyed a friendly meeting with Israeli President Ezer Weizman. But as he arrived at Yad Vashem, the Pontiff’s face was grave. He stopped to pray in silence for several moments before laying a floral wreath in front of an eternal flame in the memorial’s Hall of Remembrance. Accompanied by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the Pope also met with a number of Holocaust survivors. Among the several hundred people present for the occasion was Jerzy Kluger, a Jewish boyhood friend of the Pope’s. Many of the spectators wept freely as the Pope completed his tour and made his remarks.

“In this place of memories, the mind and heart and soul feel an extreme need for silence,” the Pope remarked. “Silence because there are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Shoah.” Recalling that he had lived with Jewish friends and neighbors as a young boy, and seen many of them disappear, the Pope continued: “I have come to Yad Vashem to pay homage to the millions of Jewish people who—stripped of everything, especially of human dignity—were murdered in the Holocaust. More than half a century has passed, but the memories remain.”

The Pope continued: “No one can forget or ignore what happened. No one can diminish its scale. We wish to remember. But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to ensure that never again will evil prevail, as it did for the millions of innocent victims of Nazism.”

Implicitly rejecting the widespread complaint that the Holocaust was a consequence of Christian contempt for the Jews, the Pope asked: “How could man have such utter contempt for man?” Then he answered his own question: “Because he had reached the point of contempt for God. Only a godless ideology could plan and carry out the extermination of a whole people.”
In his official response to the Pope’s remarks, Prime Minister Barak praised John Paul, saying “You have done more than anyone else to bring about the historic change in the attitude of the Church toward the Jewish people, and to dress the gaping wounds that festered over many bitter centuries.”

Aharon Lopez, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, later told a Roman news agency that he had wept freely during the Pope’s visit to Yad Vashem. “I have been to Yad Vashem more than 100 times, but each time is always like the first, and I am not ashamed to weep there,” Lopez told the I Media agency. He repeated that the Pope’s appearance there was “very moving—very moving.”

The Holy Father celebrated Mass on the Mount of the Beatitudes on March 24, with an estimated 100,000 young people in attendance.

The outdoor location for the Mass, on the hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, was soaked by rain on the previous day. Nevertheless, thousands of young people gathered there, beginning on the night before the celebration, bringing plastic sheets and cardboard boxes to protect themselves from the mud. The Fides news service observed that the enormous crowd—possibly the largest in Israel’s history—was “a sort of dress rehearsal for the next World Youth Day in August in Rome.”

Most of the congregation came from Israel and the Palestinian territories, although thousands also came from nearby countries such as Lebanon and Syria. There were also groups arriving on pilgrimages from Europe (an estimated 17,000 from Italy, 9,000 from Spain) and even American (10,000) and Asian (1,000) countries. Dozens of lay groups were in evidence, among them Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei, and Focolare. But the largest single presence was that of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, which is building a large new seminary and study center nearby in the hills of Galilee. As he arrived at the Mount of the Beatitudes, approaching from the nearby town of Korazim where his helicopter had landed, Pope John Paul stopped briefly to see the construction site of the study center, which is known as Domus Galilaeae. Kiko Arguello, the founder of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, led in the singing for the young people, playing his guitar, and joined by a variety of other performers on different instruments.

In his homily, the Pontiff said that the Sermon on the Mount constitutes a challenge from Christ, prodding the believer toward “a great conversion of the heart.” He continued, speaking with emphasis: “You young people, you know why this change of heart is necessary.” He observed that the young people would understand how the voice of conscience conflicts with the message of a materialistic society. Unlike those who suggest that happiness can be gained by self-gratification, the Pope explained, “Jesus offers a very different message” in the Sermon on the Mount. “And moreover, he was not content to proclaim the beatitudes. He lived them.”

During the afternoon, Pope John Paul II continued his pilgrimage by visiting three sites linked to the New Testament, and particularly to St. Peter. First the Pontiff spent some time at prayer in a 20th-century church on the site of the multiplication of the loaves. The new church, built over the ruins of an early Christian sanctuary, is now served by Benedictine monks. Built in the Byzantine style, the church is decorated with unusually fine mosaics, including one 6th-century piece that depicts the Gospel story of how Jesus fed the crowd. One of the Benedictine monks showed the Pontiff an ancient key, dating back to the end of the 1st century, which was found in the ruins of what is believed to be St. Peter’s home. Father Bargil Pixner, a renowned archeologist, remarked: “This is the key to the first Vatican!”

Next the Pope visited another church, entrusted to the Franciscans of the Holy Land, built on the spot where, after the Resurrection, Christ told Peter to “feed my sheep.” This church—on the shore of the Sea of Galilee—is dedicated to the primacy of Peter. For that reason, the Pope was particularly insistent on including it in his pilgrimage.

Finally, John Paul visited Capharnum, where St. Peter lived as a fisherman before leaving that work behind to follow Christ. There he saw the ruins of another home where Peter once lived, and of the synagogue where Jesus once preached.

On Saturday, March 25, Pope John Paul celebrated the feast of the Annunciation with a Mass in the basilica built on the spot in Nazareth where the Virgin Mary received the word that she would be the mother of Christ. John Paul had carefully timed his trip to the Holy Land so that he could spend this day at the Basilica of the Annunciation.

That church, which receives one million Christian pilgrims every year, has been the focus of controversy in recent months, because a Muslim activist group has announced plans to build a large mosque on a spot adjacent to the basilica. Nazareth has the heaviest Arabic concentration of any city in Israel, and because Muslim influence is heavy and tensions are high, the Holy Father traveled through the streets in his Popemobile under heavy security. But there were no incidents, and in fact the crowds were large and friendly.

Arriving at the basilica—a 20th-century structure, built on the ruins of an ancient sanctuary—the Pope went immediately to the lower story, to the crypt that is recognized as the place where the Annunciation actually took place. There he knelt on the ground and kissed the spot where a Latin inscription relates that the Incarnation occurred: Verbum caro hic factum est—Here the Word became flesh. Then the Pontiff moved to a prie-dieu that had been set in the crypt for him, and remained for some moments in silent prayer, with his head in his trembling hands.

After that private prayer, the Pope celebrated Mass in the Latin rite (the most common rite for the Christians of Nazareth). In his homily he spoke of the joy he felt at visiting the site of the Annunciation. “Today, the eyes of the whole Church are turned toward Nazareth,” he reminded the Christians of that Galilean town. And he spoke of how the Virgin Mary, like the patriarch Abraham, had willingly served the will of God, helping to carry out the divine plan.

Immediately after this homily, the congregation joined the Pope in the recitation of the Nicene Creed. Upon reaching the words “and became man,” the Pope fell to his knees, again recalling the Incarnation in his prayer. And at the conclusion of the Mass, he led the Angelus, again recalling the words spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary.

After the ceremony, Patriarch Michel Sabbah asked the Pope’s blessing on the “common pastoral plan” approved by the bishops of the Holy Land at their synod. That synod, which began in 1995 and concluded just one month ago in Bethlehem, called for renewed cooperation among Catholics of the different rites represented in the Holy Land.

At a meeting with the religious leaders of the three major faiths represented in Jerusalem, Pope John Paul said that inter-religious cooperation could be “an immense benefit” for “the cause of peace in the region.”

The Pope spoke to a March 23 meeting of Christians, Jews, and Muslims at the Notre Dame Center in the Old City of Jerusalem. Addressing an overflow crowd in a room that holds 500 people, he said: “We are truly entering into a new era of inter-religious dialogue.”

Flanked by Rabbi Meir Lau, a leader of the Ashkenazic Jewish community; and Taizir al Tamin, the head judge of the top Palestinian Muslim tribunal, the Pope repeated his frequent assurances that he understands how the city of Jerusalem is held as sacred by the representatives of the three great monotheistic faiths. He also admitted: “We understand all the misunderstandings and conflicts of the past, and we know that they still bear a heavy influence on relations among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.”

“However,” the Pope continued, believers of all these faiths must find “in our respective religious traditions” the understanding and the desire to work toward mutual understanding. He suggested that a keen awareness of past offenses should help religious leaders to understand the need to cooperate in building a new climate of mutual respect.

At an ecumenical meeting of Christian leaders, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem on March 25, Pope John Paul II issued a vigorous new call for ecumenical cooperation. “In the Holy Land, where Christians live side by side with the faithful of Judaism and of Islam, and where there are tensions and conflicts nearly every day, it is essential to overcome the scandalous impression caused by our dissension and our controversies,” the Holy Father said.

Nearly 200 people were on hand for the meeting at which Patriarch Diodoros I and Pope John Paul served as chairmen. Also included were the Armenian Apostolic Patriarch Torkom II, and representatives of the Coptic and Syrian Orthodox churches. Diodoros, despite his own illness, had provided the Pope with a warm welcome to the “throne room” of the Orthodox patriarchate. Speaking in Greek, with a translator rendering his words into English for the benefit of the audience, the patriarch said that the visit by John Paul was “without any doubt a historic event.”

Although the ecumenical encounter ended on a cordial note, there was at least one small sign of discord. The apostolic nuncio in the Holy Land, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, had suggested that the various religious leaders close their gathering by praying the Lord’s Prayer, each in his own language. But when the time came for that final prayer, only the Latin Pater Noster could be heard; the other religious leaders had apparently considered the suggestion inappropriate.

On March 26, as he began his final day in Jerusalem, Pope John Paul completed his round of visits to other religious leaders by meeting with the leading Muslim official of the ancient city. The Pope’s talk with Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri took place at the Al Aqsa mosque, on the eastern side of the Temple Mount. This mosque, built in the 7th century, is regarded at the third most sacred site in the world of Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

On March 23, Pope John Paul celebrated Mass in the Cenacle—the “upper room” in Jerusalem that is the site of the Last Supper.

The building in which the Cenacle is located is administered by the Israeli government. There is a “lower room,” said to mark the tomb of King David, which is the object of pilgrimages for Jewish believers; the building is also the site of a 14th century Franciscan convent. The Cenacle itself is a small Gothic chapel which also dates back to the 14th century. There the Holy Father concelebrated Mass with a dozen bishops from the Holy Land. After the Mass, John Paul spoke of the “profound emotion” he felt as he said the words of Consecration in the place where they were first said by Jesus himself. The Pope observed that the Eucharist, instituted in that spot, is “the greatest treasure of the Church.”

The Holy Father also indicated that as he celebrated the Mass at the Cenacle, he was thinking of all the world’s priests. Each year, the Pope addresses a letter to the priests of the world, usually signed on Holy Thursday as the Church celebrates the institution of the Holy Eucharist. This year, John Paul signed the letter after his Mass at the Cenacle.

The Pope also observed that he was keenly aware of his role as the successor to St. Peter. “In a certain sense,” he said, “Peter and the apostles, through their successors, have come to the upper room of the Cenacle again today to profess the eternal faith of the Church: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”

On March 26, before celebrating Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Pope John Paul II visited the Western Wall of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem’s Old City—the most sacred site in Judaism. After praying silently at the Wall, the Pope followed Jewish tradition by inserting a small paper, containing a prayer, into a crack in the old stone façade. That prayer was the same one that he had read in St. Peter’s Basilica during the “Day of Pardon” ceremony a week earlier: a prayer for God’s forgiveness for the sins committed by Christians against the people of Israel. The Pontiff also joined Jewish leaders in the recitation of Psalm 122, King David’s homage to Jerusalem. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” he read.

The Holy Father then concluded his historic pilgrimage by celebrating Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the basilica built above the spot where Jesus was buried. The Pontiff was greeted at the door by the custodians of the basilica: the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Apostolic administrators who share responsibility for the building. Once inside, the Pontiff headed immediately to the grotto marking Christ’s tomb. There he knelt in silent prayer, leaning down to kiss the stone.

Later, as he celebrated Mass in the basilica, the Holy Father commented on that visit to the tomb. “The tomb is empty,” he observed. “That is a silent witness to the central event in human history: the Resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ.”

The Pope continued by suggesting that all Christians should look upon the Passion of Christ as an invitation to “overcome our divisions and work together to build a future of reconciliation, unity, and peace.” Speaking as the successor to St. Peter, he repeated the words of the first Pope: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Returning to Rome on March 26, the Pope immediately plunged back into his regular work schedule at the Vatican. Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters on March 28 that the Pontiff had shown no signs of fatigue, despite the heavy schedule of the trip. On Monday, March 27— his first day back in the Vatican—the Pontiff met with the Secretariat of State, and held a private audience with 8,000 Italian pilgrims. He then began work preparing for his regular Wednesday public audience, at which—following his usual practice—he gave a public accounting of his recent travels.

At that audience, the Holy Father left no doubt that he considered his trip to the Holy Land one of the high points of his pontificate. “The joy and the understanding that I carry in my soul because of this gift from the Lord, which I had so deeply desired, are impossible to express,” the Pontiff told a crowd of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

Describing his week-long trip as “a return to the origins, the roots of the faith and of the Church,” the Pope retraced each step of his travels. “In a certain sense, I began my travels precisely through the view of Moses,” he said. Then he visited the Jordan River and “the figure of John the Baptist pointed me toward the trail of Christ.” He also recalled the Mass that he celebrated in Amman, Jordan, for the Christian minority, which the Pope characterized as “rich in religious zeal, and well established within the social context of that country.”

Next the Pontiff spoke of Bethlehem, “the center of attention for the Christian world during this year 2000.” He continued: “With emotion, I knelt in the grotto of the Nativity, where I felt the spiritual presence of the entire Church, of all the poor people of the world, at the site where God chose to ‘plant his tent’—the God who, in order to lead us toward him, made himself an exile and a refugee.” Those thoughts of refugees and exiles remained with him, the Pope revealed, as he toured the Palestinian refugee camp just outside Bethlehem.

“The memory of Jerusalem is indelibly impressed on my spirit,” the Pope continued. He observed that the stones of that ancient city are “mute yet eloquent witnesses” to “the central and culminating event in the history of salvation: the Paschal mystery of Christ.”

“Last Sunday—the Lord’s day—I renewed the proclamation of salvation which echoes down the centuries and millennia: Christ is risen!” the Pope said. He went on: “That was the moment when my pilgrimage reached its high point. And that is why I felt the need to return to pray that afternoon on Calvary, where Christ shed his blood for mankind.”

Prelude to a Pilgrimage
A Catholic expert on Vatican-Israeli relations set the stage for the Pope’s trip,
providing important background on church-state relations.

In preparation for the visit by Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land, the Fides news agency interviewed Father David Jaeger, OFM—one of the people most knowledgeable about the Church in the Holy Land and the relations between Christians and Jews.
Father Jaeger, a Jewish convert, was among the negotiators who worked out the Vatican-Israeli agreement to open full diplomatic ties, and among the first to comment on the more recent agreement between the Holy See and the Palestinian Authority. The Franciscan priest now teaches at the Pontifical Antonianum College in Rome.

Fides: Father Jaeger what is the attitude towards the Holy Father’s imminent visit?

Father David Jaeger: The Jews in Jerusalem are showing great interest and I would say that the atmosphere is decidedly positive. Although the Pope has underlined that the visit is part of his spiritual “jubilee pilgrimage,” people here regard it as a visit to their country and are preparing to give him a warm welcome. They are curious to know more about the Catholic Church and its faith. I have noticed that for many journalists and ordinary people here, the Catholic faith is almost a foreign world, unknown and rather fascinating.

The government, for its part has made the visit a national priority. Prime Minister Ehud Barak decided to take personal responsibility for organization, asking his nearest minister, Hon. Haim Ramon to devote himself completely to the project. Even though it is not a state visit in the strict sense, Israel has spared neither effort nor resources.

Of course on the margins of social life there are groups with different views. Orthodox Jewish leaders are diffident about opening to other believers, Catholics in particular. They are convinced they must protect their religion and their believers from Christianity’s obvious attraction. They are troubled by an imaginary threat of proselytism.

Are these the same groups that worry about the spread of atheism in Israel?

Jaeger: Atheism is not a problem for the Jewish religion. For Orthodox Jews what counts is to keep the precepts of the Law. The majority of Jews in Israel are secular, not religious—not practicing, but certainly not atheist. Zionism, the national Jewish movement, is completely secular, not religious. Its goal has always been to free the Jewish people from the yoke of other nations by creating the state of Israel; but also to liberate the people from the yoke of religious precepts, theocracy.

In the last few years a theocratic minority has gained influence and begun to fight the secular state. There is a sort of battle of culture between secular Jews and religious Jews trying to spread their influence to more areas. We Christians hope for a victory of the seculars: a state is a state of freedom to the extent that it is secular. The agreement reached between the Holy See and Israel has as its first article, religious freedom, as also do the UN Charter and Israel’s own declaration of independence.

The Pope’s pilgrimage is a spiritual event, but are there any political aspects?

Jaeger: The Church does not engage in politics. But, it is true that the Church of the Word Incarnate walks in history and therefore inevitably also in geopolitics. It is enough to look at the marked difference between this visit and Pope Paul VI’s visit to the Holy Land in 1964. Paul VI visited Israel (as well as Jordan). But in those days there were no diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel. Israeli President Salman Shazar had to go to Megiddo to meet the Pope—at least in an unofficial way. Israel felt somewhat humiliated by the low-key tone of the visit; the Pope appeared unwilling to recognize its existence. Since 1994 there are diplomatic relations, two agreements signed, others in preparation to regulate various aspects of these relations.

But has all this improved relations between the Catholic Church and the Jews? Recently many Jews have complained that the Pope has not said enough about Christian sins against the Jewish people.

Jaeger: The fact that the Pope will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum would appear to me a significant gesture. But it should be said that in Israel almost nothing is known about the progress made in Catholic/ Jewish relations since Vatican II. In the next talks between Israel and the Holy See, we will discuss precisely how to make these achievements known to the Jewish people. This will call for instruction.

At Tel Aviv University a few months ago, I mentioned the changes in relations with the Jews brought about by Vatican II. One of the teachers, a woman, remarked: “How wonderful! What a surprise! What good news; it is as if the Messiah has come!” The Council documents were written 30 years ago, and this university teacher, a scholar, was completely unaware of their existence!

The state is partly responsible for this lack of information. The 1993 agreement between the Holy See and Israel was only made public in 1999. A second agreement, regarding the juridical status of the Catholic Church in Israel, ratified in February 1999, has yet to be published officially.

We intend to request a revision of the way in which Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church are presented in Israel in school curricula and in official speeches, and that the people of Israel are duly informed of the process made in Catholic-Jewish relations. Since Vatican II the Church has revised its way of referring to the Jews in its liturgy, catechesis and theology; now it is the turn of the Jews to do the same regarding Christians.

Ehud Olmert, mayor of Jerusalem, has said the Pope should not question the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal capital.”

Jaeger: I am against this fetishism of referring to capitals as “eternal.” Capital cities are historical-political, but not eternal. God alone is eternal. Moreover, the state of Israel has promised to find a fair and negotiated solution to the question. This is also the position of the Holy See. The question of Jerusalem must be settled not unilaterally, but on the international level. The territorial future of Jerusalem and the city’s political destiny can be decided by Israel and Palestinians together. In fact at Oslo, Israel committed itself to finding a negotiated solution for Jerusalem.

As far as the Church in concerned, whatever its political future, the city must be shared, not divided. The Church also asks for guarantees at the international level, in keeping with UN principles, such as the safeguarding of the city’s religious and cultural heritage; the status quo of the holy places; access to holy places for all believers. United Nations resolution 181 (1947) stated the same objectives, in view of making the territory international. However this has since appeared impracticable.

The same finalities can find a non-territorial solution, of common accord between Israel and Palestinians on the one hand and the international community on the other. The Palestinians have already endorsed this view, and this is encouraging. There is nothing to stop Israel from doing the same. Jews and Palestinians of good will want a Jerusalem which is shared, not divided—in which perhaps West Jerusalem could be the Jewish capital, East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. In fact, although Israel has made Jerusalem its capital, it is also committed to finding a negotiated solution for the city: the only answer is a shared capital.

What do you hope the Pope’s visit will achieve?

Jaeger: Speaking on Israeli television a few days ago, I said that the Pope calls the peoples of this Holy Land to lift up their eyes, to free themselves of their attachment to their own little things: securities, cunning tactics, possessions. The Pope calls for unity among the peoples of the Holy Land, counting on the common values of these children of Abraham. We must work with, not against, one another.

What steps must be taken to guarantee peace?

Jaeger: Politics must remain secular. To mix politics with religion is deleterious for this area. All sides must work for secular states of Israel and of Palestine. This will guarantee peace, rights for all citizens including women, respect for minorities. It will also guarantee the freedom of the Church in the Middle East.

In the Middle East too little is said about man, still less about women, and almost too much about God. For the survival of Middle Eastern society, and of Christians in the region, states must be secular. Politics in the Muslim and Israeli societies at the moment are a struggle between secular and theocratic forces. It is hoped that the secular forces will win. The majority of the people in Israel want religion and state to be separate. The very fact that the papal visit is taking place is an indication that the fundamentalist and theocratic currents are not so popular. The cordial atmosphere regarding the Pope’s arrival, in Israel and in Palestine, shows that these societies are secular and pluralist.

Is there competition between Palestine and Israel regarding hospitality for the Pope?

Jaeger: The Pope’s visit to the Holy Land includes Palestine, which at the moment has considerable autonomous space. The fact that the Pope will be received by the Palestinian authorities is an indication of the Pontiff’s respect for these people and their suffering. The Holy See has always had at heart the vicissitudes of the Palestinian people, supporting their rightful aspiration to live side by side with their Jewish neighbors in freedom and security.

The nation of Palestine is in transition from a state of autonomous territories to total independence. The road is not finished but in the coming months a significant peace pact should be reached. In the Holy Land the winning card is co-existence.

Finally, the Pope touches Abraham’s home

Although he was unable to make the pilgrimage he had hoped to make to Ur of the Chaldeans, Pope John Paul II was finally able to touch the soil of that land, in modern-day Iraq, on March 21.

During his stay in Amman, Jordan, the Holy Father met with two Chaldean Catholic bishops from Iraq, who presented him with a handful of soil from Ur, and a few brick fragments that were said to be taken from the home of Abraham.

The Iraqi delegation, which traveled to Jordan especially for the presentation, consisted of Bishops Djibrail Kassab of Bassora (the diocese in which Ur is situated) and Emmanuel Karim Dally, an auxiliary to the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon, Raphael I Bidawid.

The Patriarch—who could not make the trip to Jordan because he was in Rome with a delegation of Chaldean Catholics celebrating their Jubilee there—asked the Iraqi bishops to assure the Holy Father of the affection of all Iraqi Catholics. Patriarch Bidawid said: “The bishops will offer the soil and bricks to the Pope, reminding him that the Church in Iraq longs for the Pope to visit Ur.” Insisting that such a visit is still possible for some time in the future, the Patriarch recalled: “John Paul II has not renounced his pilgrimage to Ur of the Chaldeans, and we will do our utmost to make it possible.”

Jewish scholar inspired by Pope’s witness

Some Israelis—particularly among the leaders of the country’s Orthodox Jewish groups—criticized Pope John Paul II after his visit to Yad Vashem, saying that the Pontiff should have explicitly acknowledged Church responsibility for the Holocaust. Other Jewish leaders rejected that criticism. Alon Goshen Gottstein fell into the latter category. A former professor at Tel Aviv University and a founder of the Elija School—an institution founded to promote inter-religious harmony—Gottstein was also the chairman of an inter-faith meeting in Jerusalem on March 23, which the Pope attended. Gottstein was interviewed by the Fides news agency after the Pope’s visit.

Fides: What is your impression of criticism coming from Orthodox Jews regarding the Holocaust?

Alon Goshen Gottstein: I think it is a mistake to expect the Pope to make a mea culpa; it is completely unrealistic. What is more, to expect an apology is to mistake the target. This mistaken expectation fails to see what is happening.

What do we see? We see a spiritual man enter the Yad Vashem and show us the way to come to terms with this tragedy and to live with it. He prays our Psalms, struggles with the question of God, speaks of the role of silence, as well as words permit.

He takes a theological position in the discussion: why stop at the Holocaust? Why say this is the worst event in history? Why is the Holocaust so unique? If it were unique it would be right to speak only of the Holocaust. But if it is not unique then we must consider everything. And in fact, he considers everything.

For my part I was pleased with his address. I think that only a person who fails to recognize the spiritual dimension of this man—one who gives way to narrow-mindedness, demanding an apology—can fail to see the global meaning of the Pope’s message.

What does this message mean for the youth of Israel?

Gottstein: The Elija center, of which I am a founding member, made a survey to see how many young Jews know about the changes in the Church’s attitude toward the Jewish people. We found out that this is something of which very few Jews are aware—especially among those under 30. This visit will change the attitude of Jews toward the Church; it will make them more open, more interested and anxious to know. As an educator I know that results such as these usually require decades of work. The Pope obtained the same results in a few days.

Protests fail to mar papal visit

In a land where tensions always run high, and political protests are commonplace, it was inevitable that the papal pilgrimage would precipitate some angry confrontations. But while security was tight, and several isolated incidents led to arrests, the atmosphere was generally calm throughout the Pope’s visit.

Just prior to the Pope’s arrival, sanitation workers in the city of Nazareth were on strike, and garbage was beginning to pile up in mounds along the sidewalks. The strike was finally settled just one week before the Pope was scheduled to visit; the Israeli government broke a deadlock between local officials and union leaders by agreeing to supply $3.75 million in disputed back pay for the striking workers.

But no sooner had the Israeli organizers cleared up one potential problem when another arose. In Jerusalem religious nationalists threatened to organize a “prayer protest” at the Temple Mount, blocking the way to stop the Holy Father from visiting the site. A group called Zu Artsenu announced plans to block the papal motorcade, which would “bring to Judaism’s holiest place a representative of the religion that is responsible for rivers of Jewish blood.” Zu Artsenu also pointed out that on his visit to the Temple Mount, the Pontiff would be accompanied by a representative of Yasser Arafat, “who has murdered more Jews since World War II than anyone else.” But when the day arrived for the papal visit, the Zu Artsenu protest failed to materialize.

In Tiberias, the Pope’s arrival on Friday, March 24, drew attention to a dispute between Jewish residents of the town and Muslims who had recently resumed using a mosque there, which had been abandoned since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. Earlier in March, the Muslim worshippers had clashed with Jewish residents, who pointed out that there are no Muslims now living in Tiberias, and argued that the use of the mosque was intended solely as a provocation. Boaz Goldberg, a spokesman for the local police, confirmed that he had asked the Muslim worshippers to stay away, “and we spoke to them to make sure the pope’s visit will not be disturbed.”

Just prior to the Pope’s arrival in Jerusalem, the Jewish nationalist group Kach spray-painted anti-Catholic slogans on the helicopter landing pad that the Pontiff would use. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican’s press spokesman, downplayed the significance of that gesture, pointing out that Kach represents only a small minority of Israelis. “All the voices in Israel should be respected, but not all voices are equally represented,” he reasoned.

In fact, the Vatican spokesman continued, recent polls had shown 70 percent support for the papal pilgrimage, and revealed that many Israeli groups had responded to the news of the vandalism by sending faxed statements of support. Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, for example, urged “Christians and Europeans” not to be misled by “the protests or criticisms against the Pope expressed by the ultra-orthodox Jewish community.”

Tensions out in the open

A more serious attack on the Pope drew a strong response from Israeli authorities on Wednesday, March 22. Meir Baranes, a Jewish nationalist with a history of involvement in violent protests, was placed under arrest when authorities learned that he had put a “death curse” on the Pope. A similar curse had been placed on Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before his assassination in 1995.

When the Holy Father visited a Palestinian refugee camp outside Bethlehem, hundreds of youths threw stones at the police who accompanied him. Angry witnesses said that the police had been overly aggressive in pushing curious onlookers out of the Pope’s path, and several young people claimed that they had been beaten by police with nightsticks. The assaults on the police—who were representing the Palestinian Authority—may also have been motivated in part by discontent with the leadership of Yasser Arafat.

The Pope personally witnessed an angry clash between Muslim and Jewish leaders on March 23, when political tensions broke through the surface of an interfaith meeting in Jerusalem. But Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters that the Holy Father had been keenly aware of the tensions that surrounded the meeting.

Those tensions became obvious when Rabbi Meir Lau, the head of the Ashkenazic community, thanked the Pope for “recognizing Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.” Another participant in the meeting quickly interjected: “That’s not true; he didn’t say that.” An Islamic leader, Taizir al Tamin, then angrily claimed that Jerusalem is “the eternal capital of Muslims and Palestinians.” The Muslim cleric then stormed out of the meeting.

Putting the best possible interpretation on the events, Navarro-Valls said that the open clash showed a real desire to deal directly with contentious issues. As for the specific focus of the shouting match between the Jewish and Muslim leaders, Navarro-Valls continued: “While the Pope is aware of these problems, it is not up to him to propose political solutions.”