May 12, 2 009
JERUSALEM - Israeli papers were awash with disappointment in the Pope’s speech at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, while several Muslims were arrested Tuesday morning for distributing fliers condemning the Pontiff’s visit.
Day two of the Pope’s visit to Israel, before the Holy Father even presided over his first mass, and controversy is coming from all sides. Several Jewish officials were expecting specific condemnations and an apology from the Pope for the Holocaust. But the Pope addressed these issues in his first speech at the airport, according to Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi.
“He already named at the airport the Shoah (Holocaust) and the 6 million Jews murdered and ... anti-Semitism,” Lombardi said at a news conference. “His meditation was centered on ... the engagement of the Catholic church to engage themselves forever against the crimes against humanity and the right of the peoples.”
After his closely watched speech on Monday, many Israelis expressed disappointment. Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau called the speech “a missed opportunity” without personal remorse and mention of 6 million Jews killed. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said the Pope was detached.
“He came and told us as if he were a historian, someone looking in from the sidelines, about things that should not have happened,” Rivlin told Israel Radio. “He was a part of them.”
On Tuesday, the Pope headed out on a tour of holy sites in Jerusalem. Removing his red shoes, the Pope entered the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine and part of the compound that comprises Islam's third-holiest site, the Al Aksa Mosque. A rock in the shrine is believed to be the place Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac on Mount Moriah.
“Here the paths of the world's three great monotheistic religions meet, reminding us what they share in common,” Benedict XVI said while visiting with Muslim leaders.
“Fidelity to the One God, the Creator, the Most High, leads to the recognition that human beings are fundamentally interrelated, since all owe their very existence to a single source and are pointed towards a common goal,” he said.
The quick tour was followed by a prayer at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, directly adjacent to the mosque area. The Pontiff placed a note in the wall, as is tradition.
“God of all the ages, on my visit to Jerusalem, the ‘City of Peace,’ spiritual home to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, I bring before you the joys, the hopes and the aspirations, the trials, the suffering and the pain of all your people throughout the world,” the note read. “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, hear the cry of the afflicted, the fearful, the bereft; send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family; stir the hearts of all who call upon your name, to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion.”
At the Heichal Shlomo synagogue, Benedict reaffirmed Christian-Jewish cooperation and “lasting reconciliation” between the two faiths as he met with the two chief rabbis of Israel, Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar.
“Jews and Christians alike are concerned to ensure respect for the sacredness of human life, the centrality of the family, a sound education for the young, and the freedom of religion and conscience for a healthy society,” he said. “An indication of the potential of this series of meetings is readily seen in our shared concern in the face of moral relativism and the offences it spawns against the dignity of the human person."
The Pope noted the Christian population in Israel which also values “opportunities for dialogue with their Jewish neighbors.”
Metzger, the chief Ashkenazi rabbi, thanked the Pope for his visit to “the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” Jerusalem.
Metzger thanked Benedict for preventing the return to the Catholic Church of the Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson to his position as an example to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Had you not done so a message may have been understood by another Holocaust denier, the president of Iran, granting legitimacy to his sinful declarations of his will and intention to destroy our country,” he said.
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