By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor
JERUSALEM, Israel/Palestine – During his first visit to the Holy Land as the leader of the Catholic Church Pope Francis called for peace in the region and endorsed the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After delivering an open-air mass in Bethlehem’s Manger Square in the West Bank on the second day of his three-day trip to the Middle East the Pope extended an invitation to the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to visit Vatican City for a “peace initiative.”
The Pope expressed disappointment with the breakdown of talks between the two states earlier this year saying, “for decades the Middle East has known the tragic consequences of a protracted conflict which has inflicted many wounds so difficult to heal,” the pontiff declared. The situation, he said, had become “increasingly unacceptable.” Booth President Shimon Peres or Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted on Sunday Pope Francis Invitation.
Pope Frances said, “I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer” and called on the two leaders to agree to meet with him; saying, “in this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with Israeli President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace.” He added, building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant torment. The men and women of these lands, and of the entire world, all of them, ask us to bring before God their fervent hopes for peace.” “Even in the absence of violence,” he said, “the climate of instability and a lack of mutual understanding have produced insecurity, the violation of rights, isolation and the flight of entire communities, conflicts, shortages and sufferings of every sort.”
Pope Frances also made an unscheduled stop at the Separation Wall that divides Bethlehem and Jerusalem near an Israel military watchtower. At the wall be prayed for five minutes near graffiti on that wall that read, “”Pope, we need someone to speak about justice”, “Free Palestine” and contained a reference to the Warsaw ghetto. Mustafa al-Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian legislative council, said the pope’s decision to stop and pray at the separation wall “will remain in the world’s mind forever as a rejection of the apartheid wall.”
During his visit the Pope also addressed the need for a solution to the Syrian Civil War. The Pope said that it was “necessary and Urgent” that a peaceful solution to the Syrian Conflict be reached.
On the first day of his visit to the region Pope Frances gave a message of unity during a Mass at a stadium in Amman, Jordan – a majority Muslim state with a large Christian population. Christian refugees from Syria and Iraq where among those present at the Mass. During t In televised remarks after that meeting, During his visit the Pope paid tribute to Jordan’s efforts to promote interfaith tolerance as well as its efforts to welcome refugees fleeing violence in Palestine and war-torn Syria. During his visit the pope visited some of the more than 600,000 refugees who have fled the conflict since its start in 2011.
For more information please see:
Al Jazeera – Pope prays for peace at separation wall – 25 May 2014
CNN International – Pope Francis Invites Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Vatican Peace Talks – 25 May 2014
The Guardian – Pope Francis offers prayers at Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem – 25 May 2014
The Jerusalem Post – Peres, Abbas accept papal invitation to pray for peace at Vatican – 25 May 2014
Vatican Radio – Pope Francis makes unscheduled stop to pray at Israel’s security barrier – 25 May 2014
