Pope Benedict XVI visits Caritas Baby Hospital, Bethlehem

Mary, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Mother of the Redeemer: we join the many generations who have called you “Blessed”. Listen to your children as we call upon your name. You promised the three children of Fatima that “in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”. May it be so! May love triumph over hatred, solidarity over division, and peace over every form of violence! May the love you bore your Son teach us to love God with all our heart, strength and soul. May the Almighty show us his mercy, strengthen us with his power, and fill us with every good thing (cf. Lk 1:46-56). We ask your Son Jesus to bless these children and all children who suffer throughout the world. May they receive health of body, strength of mind, and peace of soul. But most of all, may they know that they are loved with a love which knows no bounds or limits: the love of Christ which surpasses all understanding (cf. Eph 3:19). Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI, Visit to the Caritas Baby Hospital (May 13, 2009)

Pope Benedict XVI meets with Mahmoud Abbas - I earnestly beg the Almighty for peace, a just and lasting peace, in the Palestinian Territories"

My pilgrimage to the lands of the Bible would not be complete without a visit to Bethlehem, the City of David and the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Nor could I come to the Holy Land without accepting the kind invitation of President Abbas to visit these Territories and to greet the Palestinian people. I know how much you have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the turmoil that has afflicted this land for decades. My heart goes out to all the families who have been left homeless. This afternoon I will pay a visit to the Aida Refugee Camp, in order to express my solidarity with the people who have lost so much. To those among you who mourn the loss of family members and loved ones in the hostilities, particularly the recent conflict in Gaza, I offer an assurance of deep compassion and frequent remembrance in prayer. Indeed, I keep all of you in my daily prayers, and I earnestly beg the Almighty for peace, a just and lasting peace, in the Palestinian Territories and throughout the region.

Mr President, the Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders. Even if at present that goal seems far from being realized, I urge you and all your people to keep alive the flame of hope, hope that a way can be found of meeting the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians for peace and stability. In the words of the late Pope John Paul II, there can be “no peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness” (Message for the 2002 World Day of Peace). I plead with all the parties to this long-standing conflict to put aside whatever grievances and divisions still stand in the way of reconciliation, and to reach out with generosity and compassion to all alike, without discrimination. Just and peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the Middle East can only be achieved through a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, in which the rights and dignity of all are acknowledged and upheld.

I make this appeal to the many young people throughout the Palestinian Territories today: do not allow the loss of life and the destruction that you have witnessed to arouse bitterness or resentment in your hearts. Have the courage to resist any temptation you may feel to resort to acts of violence or terrorism. Instead, let what you have experienced renew your determination to build peace. Let it fill you with a deep desire to make a lasting contribution to the future of Palestine, so that it can take its rightful place on the world stage. Let it inspire in you sentiments of compassion for all who suffer, zeal for reconciliation, and a firm belief in the possibility of a brighter future.

-- Excerpts from Welcoming ceremony in the square in front of the presidential palace, in Bethlehem (May 13, 2009)

"The Pope is forcing everyone to accept that he came as pilgrim of peace"

Bernard Sabella, a Catholic lawmaker for Fatah, says the Pope is forcing everyone to accept the fact that he came as pilgrim of peace (Asia News):

“Every stakeholder wants to read into the Pope’s words a sign that suffering is at an end,” Sabella said. “Each side has its own demands. For Palestinian Christians an end to suffering means no more occupation, wall, checkpoints, visas denied to priests, i.e. matters that Arab Christians wanted the Pope to understand by their presence.”

For the Fatah lawmaker, “the Pope repeatedly said that he was coming to venerate the holy sites, as a pilgrim praying for everyone. And in so doing he is actually forcing everyone to accept his intent.”

Sabella also noted an ‘unexpected feeling” that developed between Benedict XVI and Palestinian Christians.

“Coming as a man of faith and prayer the Pope said: ‘I bring you this faith and creed.’ For Christians this means that they should stay put, remain in their society, living side by side with Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, which is also what they want, namely peace and reconciliation. And [by his visit] the Pope comforted their view in this.”

Further discussion -- and defenses -- of the Pope's address at Yad Vashem

"Criticizing Pope Benedict's Yad Vashem speech misses the point", by Anna Ekstrom (Haaretz):

A critical mind is one of the most important assets for moral and physical survival - but there are times when one's verbal battles must be chosen with more than usual care. This is certainly true of the pope, whose words in the Holy Land are being scrutinized under a microscope, much like the one needed to read the nano-Bible presented to him by President Shimon Peres.

The pontiff's speech at Yad Vashem on Monday was philosophical. It is true that he did not make apologies for historic crimes in his speech. But he did something else, something urgent: He reminded the world that anti-Semitism is still rearing its ugly head, and he committed the Catholic Church to combating it worldwide - today and tomorrow.

The author goes on to contrast John Paul II's approach to the matter with Pope Benedict's, noting: "The young Joseph Ratzinger had quite another wartime youth experience, and he lacks his predecessor's direct link between heart and speech." However, she adds:

The Bishop of Rome does seem to have chosen the road of reason over that of the heart. But it would be hard to claim that he is not making a supreme effort to explore it for heart-felt causes: to promote peace within and between human beings, and to purify the meaning of vital words such as human, freedom and rights.

* * *

Michael Sean Winters believes "before the enormity of evil that was the Shoah, silence is an appropriate emotional response" (America May 13, 2009):

Silence is not, of course, an appropriate political response and the Pope made clear that we must speak out so that the world will never forget what happened. But, he is being criticized for not saying something "touching" as one columnist wrote. It is unfair. [...]

I do not know what Pope Benedict felt when he went to Yad Vashem. His words, "I have come to stand in silence before this monument, erected to honor the memory of the millions of Jews killed in horrific tragedy of the Shoah" seemed to me excruciatingly appropriate. This Pope – who never tires of telling us Christians that our faith is about God and therefore about us, not the other way round – seemed to be saying, "My visit here is not about me. It is about the victims and their God." That may not play well in an age when our culture encourages vicarious emotional responses. But, it struck me as profoundly true.

The Pope did what he does: He looked at us poor children of Eve and pointed us towards God. His emotional reticence keeps the spotlight pointed away from himself, not only because he is shy, but because the Pope believes his job is to shine the light on God in a world in danger of forgetting Him. At Yad Vashem, like Auschwitz-Birkenau, you can smell the evil, the radical absence of God. To point us to God in such a place is no small gift and no small ministry.

* * *

The Pope's Mideast's Minefields - The New York Times' "Room for Debate" blog:

Pope Benedict XVI’s tour of the Middle East this week was expected to cross several political minefields, and so it has. After his visit on Monday to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, some Israelis complained that the German-born pope spoke only in generalities about the Holocaust and did not mention Nazi Germany. Does that criticism have some validity, or is it unfair?

Responding to the question: Rabbi James Rudin (American Jewish Committee); Colleen Carroll Campbell (Ethics and Public Policy Center); Daniel Gordis (Shalem Center) and John L. Allen Jr. (The National Catholic Reporter).

Day 6 - Pope Benedict in Bethlehem - Mass in Manger Square; Grotto of the Nativity; Caritas Baby Hospital and Aida Refugee Camp

On the Schedule Today (Wednesday May 13, 2009)

This post will be updated with news and commentary on the day's events

• 09.00 - Welcoming ceremony in the square in front of the presidential palace, in Bethlehem
• 10.00 - Holy Mass in Manger Square, Bethlehem
• 12.30 - Luncheon with the Ordinaries of the Holy Land, the Franciscan community and the Papal Entourage at the Casa Nova monastery in Bethlehem
• 15.30 - Private visit to the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem
• 16.10 - Visit to the Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem
• 16.45 - Visit to the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem
• 18.00 - Courtesy visit to the president of the Palestine National Authority in the presidential palace of Bethlehem
• 18.40 - Farewell ceremony in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace

Spoken words of Pope Benedict

• Welcoming ceremony in the square in front of the presidential palace, in Bethlehem (May 13, 2009)
• Holy Mass on the Manger's Square in Bethlehem (May 13, 2009)
• Visit to the Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem (May 13, 2009)
• Visit to the Refugee Camp Al Aida' in Bethlehem (May 13, 2009)
• Farewell ceremony in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace (May 13, 2009)

Coverage and Commentary

• Pope affirms support for Palestinian state, celebrates Mass in Bethlehem, by Cindy Wooden and Judith Sudilovsky. (Catholic News Service)
• In Bethlehem, Pope Laments Israeli Wall, by Rachel Donadio (New York Times)
• Pope urges end to conflict that walls off Bethelehem (Reuters)
• Don't be afraid to break ‘stalemate of fear’ Pope tells Palestinians (Catholic News Agency)
• Today, Benedict belonged to the Palestinians, by John Allen, Jr. (National Catholic Reporter)

Spinning the pilgrimage -- Israelis and Palestinians set the political agenda for the Pope

Poor Benedict! -- beset on all sides, with all parties attempting to set the agenda for him or put words into his mouth:

• Israel's leading rabbis on Tuesday told Pope Benedict XVI that it was his duty to spread the message that the Jewish people belong in the Land of Israel (Haaretz):

  "You represent a large nation of believers that knows what the Bible is, and it is your duty to pass on the message that the Jewish people deserve a renaissance, and a little respect - to live in this land," Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar told the pope.

• The Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Hussein Benedict XVI called Tuesday a "play an active role to put an end to "aggression" Israel against the Palestinians during the visit of the pope on the esplanade mosque (YNet News).

• The Jerusalem Post is claiming that "agreed that the Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews":

  In his welcoming address, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked the pope for his announcement, calling it an "historic agreement and, "for us, an immensely important message."

  

  Metzger also congratulated the pope on his arrival to "our holy land - the land to which we prayed to return during 2,000 years of exile... And, with God's help, our meeting today is taking place in the Land of Israel, in our city of Jerusalem - the eternal capital of the Jewish people."

  "Missionizing" is a loaded term, practically speaking. On one hand, the Catholic Church distinguishes itself as not having a specific "mission to the Jews," or involving itself in overt attempts to convert. On the other hand, this is not to say that the Church abandons the Great Commission.

  
  For a good evaluation of where the Church actually stands on this question, see The discussion of the recent modifications of the prayer for the Jews for Good Friday , by Cardinal Walter Kasper (L'Osservatore Romano April 10, 2008) or "Judaism's Way of Salvation", by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (The Tablet March 29, 2008).

  
  Given the complete lack of corroboration by any other news media (or actual citation of the Pope's words") relating to this particular story, I'm inclined to believe these Rabbis are actually spinning the Pope's words to fit a preconceived agenda.

• Mundher Amira, a Palestinian on the planning committee for the visit to Camp Aida, plans to ask Pope Benedict XVI to help him and other refugees return to their homes in Israel on Wednesday (Jerusalem Post):

  Statements like this, as well as plans for the pope at the camp, which had included hosting him on a stage next to the West Bank security barrier, have drawn harsh criticism from the Foreign Ministry.

  The Palestinians "have not missed any opportunity to politicize" Benedict's visit, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

  "Their purpose is so clear and transparent you can read right through it. They are trying to divert the visit, to hijack it from being a pilgrimage with a message of interfaith reconciliation and unity and peace, and they are trying to draw him into political propaganda," Palmor said.

  Amira has no problem with introducing politics into the visit, because it is precisely those politics that make daily life for him and others in the camp difficult.

Pope Benedict waves to the crowd as he arrives for a holy mass at the Kidron Valley on May 12, 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel. Source: Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI leads a mass at the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem May 12, 2009, where it is believed Jesus had his final prayer before he was betrayed and arrested. Source: Reuters

Nuns cheer the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI for mass in the Kidron valley between the Mount of Olives and the 400-year-old walls of Jerusalem's Old City, on May 12, 2009. Source: Getty Images

Citizens of Jerusalem welcome -- or in other cases, tolerate -- the papal pilgrimage

• The Jerusalem Police on Monday morning sealed off a conference hall at the Ambassador Hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, following the Palestinian Authority's plan to hold a briefing for foreign and Palestinian journalists ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel (YNet News):

  The auditorium was closed due to an order signed by Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, following intelligence information received by the police. Officers from the Jerusalem central unit's minority division arrived at the place with additional forces and presented the order, issued in accordance with the "implementation law", which states that any PA activity in all parts of Jerusalem is forbidden.

  The Palestinian prime minister's advisor for Jerusalem affair, Khatem Abdel Kader, protested:

  "If the minister and the Israelis think that by closing the media center they can thwart our preparations to greet the pope and cover his visit – they are mistaken," he said.

A Palestinian man stands near a welcome note to Pope Benedict XVI on a wall near a section of Israel's separation barrier near the Aida Refugee Camp on May 12, 2009. May 12, 2009. Source: Associated Press

• Two Bethlehem University students were detained on their way to participate in an interfaith conference with Pope Benedict XVI Tuesday, university officials said (Maan News Agency):

  According to BU the two men were stopped and then denied entry to Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. The delegates were faculty members at the university, university alumni and Bethlehem-area natives. The reasons for their denial were not explained.

  “Unfortunately” the university commented, “this experience is common for our students, faculty and staff, many of whom navigate a maze of checkpoints, soldiers and other structures of military occupation simply to be present on campus.”

• For and against: Jerusalemites and the papal visit, by Abe Selig (Jerusalem Post):

  Residents of the capital exhibited a range of emotions about the pope's visit on Tuesday, as closed roads and beefed-up security snarled traffic and people were forced to either alter their routine, or suffer the consequences.

  "It was quite bad getting in this morning," one commuter said, as she sat outside a cafe near the city center. "But I heard that by the afternoon already, things were getting better."

  But others reflected on lost business and a general difficulty in getting things done, as Benedict's motorcade and a huge apparatus of Jerusalem police, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) agents and assorted government officials clogged parts of downtown throughout the morning.

• Haaretz reports that Pope Benedict XVI will be staying at the home of the Vatican's ambassador to Israel, located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem -- "standard protocol," according to Vatican officials.

• From Salt Lake City's Desert News, a story on Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center, which is hosting 5 members of the Pope's entourage:

  "We're cooperating with them so that they're close by to where he is staying, and they're available to him and can easily travel with him wherever he goes," said S. Kent Brown, assistant director of the BYU Jerusalem Center.

  Brown, who has previously served as the center's director, said leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have maintained a good relationship with Archbishop Antonio Franco, the Apostolic Nuncio to Israel — or the papal ambassador to Israel — whose official residence is next door to the center.

• Depeche Mode, the pope and Lag Ba'omer (Jerusalem Post) -- while the arrival of the Pope and 80's rock band garner media attention, Yonatan Seredni reminds his Jewish readers of another celebration. (For more about Lag Ba'omer, click here).

Pope's meeting in the Upper Room brings Vatican-Israeli property and taxation dispute to the fore

For Israel And Vatican, A Taxing Issue The Jewish Week May 13, 2009. Michelle Chabin provides a helpful look at the issues involving taxation and jurisdictional matters related to church property that have plagued relations between the Vatican and Israel for years:

“There is a lot of misinformation and I’d like to explain the principles,” Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told The Jewish Week at the City Hall press center set up for the pope’s visit. According to Palmor, there are three issues in play.

“The first relates to a tax exemption for church institutions, such as churches, monasteries, schools, abbeys. The second, which is unrelated to the first, relates to immunity from expropriation. In other words, the church wants a guarantee that its property cannot be taken to build a road, for example.”

The third issue relates to the Room of the Last Supper, which Catholics call the Cenacle. “The Catholic Church has requested private ownership of the church,” a potentially inflammatory move considering that Muslims consider the site holy and many Jews believe King David is buried in a tomb beneath the Cenacle.

Unlike the first two matters, “the Cenacle is not under negotiation,” Palmor emphasized. “The Israeli government has not accepted the church’s request and it remains the property of the Israeli government.”

Whether or how much to tax property owned by the Catholic Church is the thornier of the two outstanding matters because it means a loss of tax revenues (millions of shekels) and second, because it could set a precedent for other denominations and religions, according to an official who requested anonymity. [More]

Investigating the topic, AsiaNews.it interviews Fr David-Maria A. Jaeger, a legal expert with the Franciscan order and authority on State-Church relations in the Holy Land:

The Holy Father's pilgrimage to the Cenacle on Mount Zion, the Shrine of the Last Supper, inevitably is also a reminder of the anomaly of the present situation of this Holy Place of the Institution of the Mass and the Coming down of the Holy Spirit, which could therefore be called the Birth-place of the Church.

It became the property of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land—indeed its mother-house—in the fourteenth century, a gift of the King and Queen of Naples, with the special blessing and approval of the Pope. Two centuries later though, the Ottoman rulers of Jerusalem at that time expelled the Franciscans by force, and now it is in the hands of the government of Israel.

The Franciscan Custody, however, has never relinquished its right of property in the Holy Place, and has all these centuries demanded its restitution, as it still does. It has done so in the name of the whole world-wide Catholic Church, which—by Papal mandate—the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land represents at this and other Holy Places. As an enduring sign of never acquiescing in the unjust results of the violent expulsion, the principal and original title of the Custos of the Holy Land remains forever that of ‘Guardian of the Holy Mount Zion’, as is evidenced by his seal. [More

Fr. Jaegar was also interviewed for the Jewish Week article cited above.

It's a complex dispute and honestly, I can comprehend and sympathize with both parties. For example, one implication that warrants further consideration is how transfer of ownership of the Cenacle and tax-exempt status -- such as we have in the United States -- to properties held by the Catholic Church in Israel will affect ecumenical relations with other churches and relations with Muslims and other religions.

On a related note: "Status Quo" Governs Holy Land Churches (Vatican Radio):

During his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Pope will visit several Holy Sites which are used by the Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian Churches.

The complex relationship which exists in these Churches has not always been friendly, and in the 19th century the Ottoman Empire established what is known as the Status Quo – which has governed these Holy Sites under the rule of successive regimes.

To find out more, and to find out how this Status Quo affects the Pope’s visit, Vatican Radio spoke to Franciscan Father Athanasius Macora

Related

• Mount Zion. The Cenacle and St. Peter in Gallicantu - November 24, 2003 Studium Biblicum Franciscum. Faculty of Biblical Sciences & Archeology.

Pope Benedict XVI - Mass in the Valley of Josaphat in Jerusalem

As the Successor of Saint Peter, I have retraced his steps in order to proclaim the Risen Christ in your midst, to confirm you in the faith of your fathers, and to invoke upon you the consolation which is the gift of the Paraclete. Standing before you today, I wish to acknowledge the difficulties, the frustration, and the pain and suffering which so many of you have endured as a result of the conflicts which have afflicted these lands, and the bitter experiences of displacement which so many of your families have known and – God forbid – may yet know. I hope my presence here is a sign that you are not forgotten, that your persevering presence and witness are indeed precious in God’s eyes and integral to the future of these lands. Precisely because of your deep roots in this land, your ancient and strong Christian culture, and your unwavering trust in God’s promises, you, the Christians of the Holy Land, are called to serve not only as a beacon of faith to the universal Church, but also as a leaven of harmony, wisdom and equilibrium in the life of a society which has traditionally been, and continues to be, pluralistic, multiethnic and multireligious.

Sadly, beneath the walls of this same City, we are also led to consider how far our world is from the complete fulfilment of that prophecy and promise. In this Holy City where life conquered death, where the Spirit was poured out as the first-fruits of the new creation, hope continues to battle despair, frustration and cynicism, while the peace which is God’s gift and call continues to be threatened by selfishness, conflict, division and the burden of past wrongs. For this reason, the Christian community in this City which beheld the resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit must hold fast all the more to the hope bestowed by the Gospel, cherishing the pledge of Christ’s definitive victory over sin and death, bearing witness to the power of forgiveness, and showing forth the Church’s deepest nature as the sign and sacrament of a humanity reconciled, renewed and made one in Christ, the new Adam.

Gathered beneath the walls of this city, sacred to the followers of three great religions, how can we not turn our thoughts to Jerusalem’s universal vocation? Heralded by the prophets, this vocation also emerges as an indisputable fact, a reality irrevocably grounded in the complex history of this city and its people. Jews, Muslims and Christians alike call this city their spiritual home. How much needs to be done to make it truly a “city of peace” for all peoples, where all can come in pilgrimage in search of God, and hear his voice, “a voice which speaks of peace” (cf. Ps 85:8)!

-- Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI, Mass in the Valley of Josaphat in Jerusalem (May 12, 2009)

Pope Benedict visits The Upper Room, Jerusalem

When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). The Upper Room recalls the last supper of our Lord with Peter and the other apostles and invites the Church to prayerful contemplation. In this vein we gather together, the Successor of Peter with successors of the apostles, in this same place where Jesus revealed in the offering of his own body and blood, the new depths of the covenant of love established between God and his people. In the Upper Room the mystery of grace and salvation, of which we are recipients and also heralds and ministers, can be expressed only in terms of love. Because he has loved us first and continues to do so, we can respond with love (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 2).

Our life as Christians is not simply a human effort to live the demands of the Gospel imposed upon us as duties. In the Eucharist we are drawn into the mystery of divine love. Our lives become a grateful, docile and active acceptance of the power of a love which is given to us. This transforming love, which is grace and truth (cf. Jn 1:17), prompts us, as individuals and communities, to overcome the temptation to turn in upon ourselves in selfishness or indolence, isolation, prejudice or fear, and to give ourselves generously to the Lord and to others. It moves us as Christian communities to be faithful to our mission with frankness and courage (cf. Acts 4:13). In the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock, in the Teacher who washes the feet of his disciples, you find, my dear brothers, the model of your own ministry in the service of our God who promotes love and communion.

-- Excerpt, Pope Benedict XVI: Regina Cœli prayer with the Ordinaries of the Holy Land in the Upper Room in Jerusalem (May 12, 2009)

Pope Benedict XVI at the Western Wall, Jerusalem

"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.

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)!"

-- Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI, Western Wall, Israel

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Dome of the Rock; meeting with the Grand Mufti

The Dome of the Rock draws our hearts and minds to reflect upon the mystery of creation and the faith of Abraham. Here the paths of the world’s three great monotheistic religions meet, reminding us what they share in common. Each believes in One God, creator and ruler of all. Each recognizes Abraham as a forefather, a man of faith upon whom God bestowed a special blessing. Each has gained a large following throughout the centuries and inspired a rich spiritual, intellectual and cultural patrimony. [...]

Since the teachings of religious traditions ultimately concern the reality of God, the meaning of life, and the common destiny of mankind – that is to say, all that is most sacred and dear to us – there may be a temptation to engage in such dialogue with reluctance or ambivalence about its possibilities for success. Yet we can begin with the belief that the One God is the infinite source of justice and mercy, since in him the two exist in perfect unity. Those who confess his name are entrusted with the task of striving tirelessly for righteousness while imitating his forgiveness, for both are intrinsically oriented to the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of the human family.

For this reason, it is paramount that those who adore the One God should show themselves to be both grounded in and directed towards the unity of the entire human family. In other words, 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. Imprinted with the indelible image of the divine, they are called to play an active role in mending divisions and promoting human solidarity.

This places a grave responsibility upon us. Those who honor the One God believe that he will hold human beings accountable for their actions. Christians assert that the divine gifts of reason and freedom stand at the basis of this accountability. Reason opens the mind to grasp the shared nature and common destiny of the human family, while freedom moves the heart to accept the other and serve him in charity. Undivided love for the One God and charity towards ones neighbor thus become the fulcrum around which all else turns. This is why we work untiringly to safeguard human hearts from hatred, anger or vengeance.

-- Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI's visit with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Dome of the Rock May 12, 2009.

Was the Pope in the Hitler Youth? -- Benedict vs. Lombardi on the historical record.

The pope and Hitler Youth (Benedict’s own words), by John Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter:

During a press briefing in Jerusalem today, the Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, chided reporters for repeating what he called a falsehood – namely, the claim that the young Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was once a member of the Hitler Youth. "The pope was never in the Hitler Youth: never, never, never," Lombardi said.

Unfortunately for Lombardi, his assertion is contradicted by a fairly unimpeachable source: the future pope himself.

Pope’s Wartime Past Becomes an Issue, by Rachel Donadio (New York Times) In seeking to clarify Pope Benedict XVI’s association with the Hitler Youth, the Vatican further muddied the waters.

Day 5 - Pope Benedict in Jerusalem - Visits to Dome of the Rock, Western Wall and Upper Room; Holy Mass in Vally of Josaphat

On the Schedule Today (Tuesday May 12, 2009)

This post will be updated with news and commentary on the day's events

• 09.00 - Visit to the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount in Jerusalem
• Courtesy visit to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem at the Mount of the Temple
• 10.00 - Visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem
• 10.45 - Courtesy visit to the two Chief Rabbis of Israel at the Hechal Shlomo Centre of Jerusalem
• 11.50 - Regina Cœli prayer with the Ordinaries of the Holy Land in the Upper Room in Jerusalem
• 12.30 - Short visit to the co-cathedral of the Latins in Jerusalem
• 13.00 - Luncheon with the Ordinaries of the Holy Land, the Abbots and the Papal Entourage in the Patriarchate of the Latins in Jerusalem
• 16.30 - Holy Mass in the Valley of Josaphat in Jerusalem

Spoken words of Pope Benedict XVI

• Courtesy visit to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem at the Mount of the Temple (May 12, 2009)
• Prayer at the Western Wall (May 12, 2009)
• Courtesy visit to the two Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem at Hechal Shlomo Center in Jerusalem (May 12, 2009)
• Regina Cœli prayer with the Ordinaries of the Holy Land in the Upper Room in Jerusalem (May 12, 2009)
• Short visit to the Co-Cathedral of the Latins in Jerusalem (May 12, 2009)
• Mass in the Valley of Josaphat in Jerusalem (May 12, 2009)

Coverage and Commentary

• Pope strikes new balance in the Old City, by John Allen, Jr. (National Catholic Reporter)
• Pope to visit Jerusalem holy sites, by Alastair Macdonald (Reuters)
• Pope calls attention to fate of 'human family' at Dome of the Rock (Catholic News Agency)
• Pope in historic visit to al Aqsa, by Omar Karmi. (The National)
• At Western Wall, meeting with rabbis, pope prays for peace, by Cindy Wooden (Catholic News Service)
• Pontiff Speaks to Muslims of Love for God, Neighbor - Visits Site Dear to 3 Monotheistic Religions (Zenit News)
• Benedict XVI Considers Common Ground With Jews: Points to Shared Concern About Relativism (Zenit News)
• Pope Calls for End to Holy Land Exodus, Urges Communion in Diversity Among Churches (Zenit News)
• Jerusalem must fulfill its 'vocation' as a city of peace, urges Pope (Catholic News Agency)