I apologize for this very belated post, which i didn't come across till today! In any case, except for the reference to the Pope's visit to the Holy Sepulchre, what it has to say is not dated at all.
Pope's Holy Land pilgrimage:
A reason to give thanks
by Father Raymond J. de Souza, SJ
May 16, 2009
Benedict XVI at the sources of the faith:
The Grotto of the Nativity (left) and at the empty tomb in Jerusalem.
They sang a Te Deum -- the great Christian hymn of thanksgiving -- in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre yesterday to mark the conclusion of Pope Benedict XVI's visit.
Visibly tired after eight days of intense activity in a sometimes hostile environment, the Pope fell to his knees for prolonged periods of silent prayer at the site of Jesus's crucifixion and in the empty tomb of the resurrection. They were tranquil moments at the end of a difficult visit.
Pope Benedict returned to Rome likely content with the workmanlike success of his trip. A spectacular triumph it wasn't. Yet the principal task was accomplished just by coming, lest it be said that the German Pope declined to visit Israel.
To get here was a struggle, with the Vatican having to overrule local Catholics who were lukewarm to the visit, and the more determined opposition of other Christian leaders. The Christian Arabs here thought the visit would be an undeserved propaganda triumph for an Israeli government they deeply mistrust. They asked the Pope not to come. He came anyway.
So the cool, even hostile, reception in many quarters of Jewish public opinion here was likely not entirely unwelcome by the region's Arab Christians. In a region where the enemy of my enemy is my friend, serious Jewish criticism would have been welcome proof that the Pope was not entirely on the Israeli side.
Much was made in the Israeli press about Pope Benedict's address at Yad Vashem, in which he declined to speak on behalf of the German people, and offered no apology for putative Catholic responsibility for the Holocaust.
Indeed, Pope Benedict did not address those questions at Yad Vashem precisely because his settled view, which he did articulate at Auschwitz three years ago, is that Nazism was a specifically anti-religious phenomenon.
That would have been considered inflammatory at Yad Vashem, but the Pope did not leave Israel without saying it. At the airport departure ceremony yesterday he spoke of "Jews [brutally] exterminated under a godless regime."
Even had Pope Benedict thrown himself on the ground in shame, it would not have been enough for those who found his very presence offensive.[Such, alas, is the virulence of bigotry which, by its very definition, is wilfully irrational and blind to any view that is different]
Israeli government ministers from the religious Shas party quietly decided to absent themselves from reception ceremonies even before the Pope arrived out of "respect for Holocaust survivors."
Yet bad manners on the part of some will not seriously damage Catholic-Jewish relations, which already enjoy a firm foundation. It has been more than 40 years since Vatican II's teaching that anti-Semitism is a sin against God; it has been more than 15 years since full diplomatic relations were established between Israel and the Holy See; it has been more than 10 years since the papal document on the Shoah,
We Remember.
What some Jews want Pope Benedict to do, namely to declare the Catholic Church co-responsible for the Holocaust and Pope Pius XII indifferent to Jewish suffering, he simply will not do. He won't do it because he thinks it is not true.
[And by any objective measure, IT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE!]
Jews looking toward the future rather than the past were concerned, too, about the clear signs that the Pope and the Catholic Church are shifting their attention toward the Islamic world. Is the friend of my enemy my enemy, too?
This visit was crafted with a dominant Muslim agenda. Pope Benedict spent three days in Jordan, visited Amman's principal mosque and gave the major address of his visit there.
[Definitely, in the philosophical-intellectual sense! So it still escapes me why none of the Vaticanistas appear to have thought so - when it was clearly Regensburg-Part 2! But then, none of them really appreciated Regensburg-1 for the epochal discourse that it is. I have been awaiting Fr. Schall's commentary on the Amman address.]
In Jerusalem he entered the Dome of the Rock and gave another substantive address in the Al-Haram Al-Sharif. His addresses advanced his themes of religious liberty, co-operation and the essential role of reason for believers to avoid extremism and violence.
Such arguments from a Christian pastor have never been so precisely articulated before an attentive Muslim audience in such important Muslim sites.
Part of the lukewarm reaction of Israelis to the Pope's visit was in response to the changing times. Where for a half-century Jews were the Catholic Church's primary inter-religious interlocutors, the future belongs to Islam.
Changing times also explained why this visit was so difficult, especially in comparison to Pope John Paul's visit nine years ago. When John Paul was elected in 1978, he wanted to come to Bethlehem and Jerusalem for his first Christmas. Vatican diplomats were horrified at the potential minefield the Pope would enter and gave him repeated reasons why a visit would not be possible.
After two decades of delays, John Paul put his foot down and announced he would come for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. When he arrived, he was already a meta-historical figure, an old man defying growing infirmity to visit the Holy City. It was more than dramatic.
What was not known then was that in March, 2000, the Holy Land was enjoying its last months of optimism and tranquillity. John Paul came just in time.
Circumstances have changed in nine years. A heavy spirit has settled over the Holy Land, with peace a distant prospect. This was not the year of the Lord's favour.
Since John Paul's visit in 2000 history has been moving at an accelerated pace, with major events falling one upon the other: the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon; the failure of the Camp David negotiations between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat; Arafat's subsequent launching of the suicide bombing intifada; the
building of the security wall to stop the terrorists; a massive, ongoing security presence by the Israeli armed forces in the West Bank; the creation of a new Israeli political party, Kadima; the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005; the election victory of Hamas in 2006; the second Lebanon war later that year, considered a failure in Israel; the Palestinian civil war that delivered Gaza to Hamas control in 2007; the daily rocket fire from Gaza into Israel; the economic embargo of Gaza by Israel; and finally, the Gaza war earlier this year. Israelis and Palestinians have experienced nearly a decade of constant violence and turmoil.
[Thank you, Fr. De Souza, for taking the time to encapsulate those developments, something few other commentators on the Pope's visit have done, but something necessary to place the entire geopolitical picture in the right focus.]
Pope Benedict arrived at time when reserves of goodwill were depleted. In such an environment, a modest success is cause for a Te Deum.
This one is a new report that refers back to the Pope's Holy Land trip, and it comes from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism:
Pontiff builds bridges of peace
among religious faiths
by Gail Barzilay
Israel Ministry of Tourism
NEW YORK, May 29 (Thru Christian Newswire) -- On May 15, Pope Benedict XVI completed his first papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land, visiting and praying at holy sites and making a concerted effort to build bridges of peace between Judaism and Christianity.
"I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace -- peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world," Pope Benedict said upon arriving on May 11 for his five-day pilgrimage.
During
a year that is set to break past records for Christian pilgrims visiting Israel, Pope Benedict's journey marked the first papal visit to the Holy Land since Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage in 2000.
"The people of Israel count it a great honor and privilege to have welcomed Pope Benedict as our esteemed guest," said Arie Sommer, Israel's Tourism Commissioner for North and South America. "We appreciate the solidarity demonstrated by His Holiness as he visited the land and people of Israel, and encouraged other Christians around the world to do the same."
The papal visit began at Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv, where Pope Benedict was met by Israeli President Shimon Peres, and participated in a welcome ceremony.
Peres said at the event, "I see your visit here, to the Holy Land, as an important spiritual mission of the highest order; a mission of peace."
Pope Benedict echoed this sentiment: "I am certain that this will be a continuation of the dialogue between Judaism and Christianity in the spirit of the Prophets."
The Pope took further steps to building bridges of peace through his personal meeting with Peres and a subsequent meeting in Nazareth with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Later on the day of his arrival, His Holiness was deeply moved during his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, which he called "one of the most solemn moments of my stay in Israel."
Additionally, the papal visit included the celebration of Mass in the Kidron Valley (Jerusalem), Bethlehem, and Nazareth, as well as times of reflection and prayer at holy sites, including the Western Wall, Mount Zion, Gethsemane, and the Old City of Jerusalem.
While in Jerusalem, Pope Benedict also took time to personally meet with Muhammad Ahmad Husayn, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, at the Temple Mount, in addition to Israel's chief rabbis.
Concluding his pilgrimage, the Pontiff again reiterated the need to continually work toward peace among religious faiths: "We are nourished from the same spiritual roots. We meet as brothers, brothers who at times in our history have had a tense relationship, but now are firmly committed to building bridges of lasting friendship."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/05/2009 02:22]