Pope Benedict XVI met on Thursday with Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Druze leaders
who make up the Israeli Religious Council. In his address the Pope recalled his own
visit to Jerusalem in 2009 and his prayer at the Western Wall for peace in the Holy
Land.
The Pope noted that "in our troubled times, dialogue between different
religions is becoming ever more important in the generation of an atmosphere of mutual
understanding and respect that can lead to friendship and solid trust in each other.
This is pressing for the religious leaders of the Holy Land who, while living in a
place full of memories sacred to our traditions, are tested daily by the difficulties
of living together in harmony."
Recalling his recent meeting in Assisi with
representatives of all the world's major faith traditions, the Pope stressed that
"as religious leaders we are called to reaffirm that the rightly lived relationship
of man to God is a force for peace," adding that "all of us are called to commit ourselves
anew to the promotion of greater justice and dignity, in order to enrich our world
and to give it a fully human dimension. Justice, together with truth, love and freedom,"
he said, "is a fundamental requirement for lasting and secure peace in the world.
Movement towards reconciliation requires courage and vision, as well as the trust
that it is God himself who will show us the way."
Among those meeting with
the Pope was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, who spoke to Philippa Hitchen
about the aim of the encounter....
Listen:
Read
the full text of Pope Benedict's speech:
Your Beatitude, Your Excellencies, Dear
Friends,
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you, the members of the Israeli
Religious Council, representing as you do the religious communities present in the
Holy Land, and I thank you for the kind words addressed to me in the name of all present.
In our troubled times, dialogue between different religions is becoming ever
more important in the generation of an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect
that can lead to friendship and solid trust in each other. This is pressing for the
religious leaders of the Holy Land who, while living in a place full of memories sacred
to our traditions, are tested daily by the difficulties of living together in harmony.
As
I remarked in my recent meeting with religious leaders at Assisi, today we find ourselves
confronted by two kinds of violence: on the one hand, the use of violence in the name
of religion and, on the other, the violence that is the consequence of the denial
of God which often characterises life in modern society. In this situation, as religious
leaders we are called to reaffirm that the rightly lived relationship of man to God
is a force for peace. This is a truth that must become ever more visible in the way
in which we live with each other on a daily basis. Hence, I wish to encourage you
to foster a climate of trust and dialogue among the leaders and members of all the
religious traditions present in the Holy Land.
We share a grave responsibility
to educate the members of our respective religious communities, with a view to nurturing
a deeper understanding of each other and developing an openness towards cooperation
with people of religious traditions other than our own. Unfortunately, the reality
of our world is often fragmentary and flawed, even in the Holy Land. All of us are
called to commit ourselves anew to the promotion of greater justice and dignity, in
order to enrich our world and to give it a fully human dimension. Justice, together
with truth, love and freedom, is a fundamental requirement for lasting and secure
peace in the world. Movement towards reconciliation requires courage and vision,
as well as the trust that it is God himself who will show us the way. We cannot achieve
our goals if God does not give us the strength to do so.
When I visited Jerusalem
in May 2009, I stood in front of the Western Wall and, in my written prayer placed
between the stones of the Wall, I asked God for peace in the Holy Land. I wrote:
"God of all 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
inspirations, the trials, the suffering and the pain of all your people throughout
the world. 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. ‘The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the
soul that seeks him!’” (Lam 3:25).
May the Lord hear my prayer for Jerusalem
today and fill your hearts with joy during your visit to Rome. May he hear the prayer
of all men and women who ask him for the peace of Jerusalem. Indeed, let us never
cease praying for the peace of the Holy Land, with confidence in God who himself is
our peace and consolation. Entrusting you and those whom you represent to the Almighty's
merciful care, I willingly invoke upon all of you divine blessings of joy and peace.