Peter to Jerusalem

The Pope is spending one day of his week long visit to the Holy Land in Jerusalem, but it is the center of the visit and, throughout the history of Christianity, the center of the world.

Along with this wonderful article by Chiesa, there is a movie called the Kingdom of Heaven—get the director’s cut—based on history, that captures the tremendous passion surrounding Jerusalem during the time of the crusades and Saladin.

An excerpt from the article.

“ROME, May 6, 2009 – The Sunday before leaving for the Holy Land, in a Saint Peter's Square overflowing with faithful, Benedict XVI said in a few words what the aim of his trip will be:

"With my visit, I intend to strengthen and encourage the Christians of the Holy Land, who must face numerous difficulties on a daily basis. As successor of the apostle Peter, I will communicate to them the closeness and support of the entire body of the Church. Moreover, I will be a pilgrim of peace, in the name of the one God who is Father of all. I will bear witness to the Catholic Church's efforts on behalf of those who strive to practice dialogue and reconciliation, in order to reach a stable and lasting peace in justice and mutual respect. Finally, this trip cannot help but have significant ecumenical and interreligious importance. From this point of view, Jerusalem is the city-symbol par excellence: it is there that Christ died in order to gather together all of the scattered children of God."

“From these words – reiterated at the general audience on Wednesday, May 6 – it can be gathered that in order to promote peace and dialogue among the peoples and religions in the Holy Land, the pope is relying first of all on the Christians living there.

“A bold wager. It's not only that Christians has been reduced to a tiny minority in the region, less than 2 percent of the population, which is mainly Jewish and Arab. It must also be kept in mind that the Christians in the area have been the most skeptical in reacting to the announcement of the pope's trip. Many of them, including priests and bishops, have said that his visit is inopportune.

“It has taken a great deal of effort to smooth over this front of rejection. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, has confirmed this in an interview: the reasons of the opponents were even explained to Benedict XVI in person.

“The main concern of the opponents was that the pope's trip – in part because of his extremely positive stance on religious dialogue with Judaism – could be to Israel's political advantage.

“Benedict XVI firmly stood his ground. For its part, Vatican diplomacy did all it could to pacify the opposition.

“This explains, for example, the benevolence that the Vatican showed toward Israel's archenemy, Iran, during and after the controversial Geneva conference on racism: a benevolence that many observers judged as disproportionate.

“It may also explain the silence of the Vatican authorities and the pope himself on the treacherous hanging of the young Iranian woman Delara Dalabi in Tehran. In cases of this kind, publicized all over the world, the Holy See almost always raises its voice in defense of the victims of human rights violations: but this time, it decided to remain silent.”