Planting the Roots of Peace

One of the highlights at today’s reception in honor of Pope Benedict XVI held at the Residence of the President, Mr. Shimon Peres, was the ceremonial – and symbolic –Peace Tree planting. During the reception, Pope Benedict XVI planted a centuries-old olive tree in the Peace Garden of the Presidential residence, a symbolic gesture in keeping with the Pope’s peace pilgrimage to the Holy Land and his expressed wish to foster peace and brotherhood between peoples and religions. The planting represents the first in a new tradition for the President’s Residence and garden.

Olive trees, a symbol of peace dating back to the Bible, are indigenous to the Mediterranean region and form an integral part of Israel’s landscape. The Galilee area is particularly well-known for its centuries-old olive trees which grace the local landscape with their beauty and provide a livelihood for local farmers and olive oil producers.

Over 600 invited guests , including among others Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religious leaders, Righteous Among the Nations, Israeli winners of the Nobel Prize, artists and heads of theaters, representatives of bereaved families and families of MIAs, Holocaust survivors and youth movement and student council representatives from throughout Israel, took part in the event at the President’s residence.

The Pope received a basket of fruit from two children, a Christian and a Jew from Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, the "Seven Species" of plants named in the Bible and other Israeli-made produce, including a new strand of wheat developed by the Volcani Center and named Benedict XVI after the Pope. Other presents included a unique gift – the complete text of the Old Testament inscribed in vowelled Hebrew on a nanotechnology 0.5-square-millimeter particle about the size of a grain of sand.

In his address at the reception, President Peres welcomed His Holiness with the words: “In you we see a promoter of peace; a great spiritual leader; a potent bearer of the message of peace to this land and to all others.”

Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office


 

Yad Vashem – “The cry of the victims of the Holocaust still echoes in our hearts”

Immediately following the reception at the President’s Residence, Pope Benedict XVI visited Yad Vashem where a moving memorial ceremony took place in the presence of President Shimon Peres, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Welfare and Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog, Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, Information and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, Minister Yossi Peled, Deputy Pensioner Affairs Minister Lea Nass, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau and invited guests.

At Yad Vashem, the Pope rekindled the Eternal Flame and laid a yellow and white floral wreath, representing the colors of the Vatican flag. After delivering an address, the Pope met with six Holocaust survivors: Ed Mosberg, Israela Hargil, Avraham Ashkenazi, Gita Kalderon, Dan Landsberg and Ruth Bondy and a Righteous Among the Nations, Ivan Vranetic, who now lives in Israel.

In his moving address, the Pope thanked the people of Israel for giving him the opportunity to “stand in silence before this monument.”

Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office


Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office


 

Visit to the Western Wall - “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem”

Pope Benedict XVI continued his historic pilgrimage through the Holy Land earlier Tuesday, visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Roman-era Temple remnant that represents Judaism’s holiest place and the most-visited tourist site in Israel. The Pope spent several minutes in silent prayer, standing before the ancient stones of the Western Wall.

Tourism Minister Mr. Stas Misezhnikov welcomed the Pope “to the Holy City of Jerusalem, the spiritual center of all nations on earth, and the eternal Capital of Israel. Hundreds of millions of the faithful around the world uplift their eyes to this very spot; and today, especially, they are closely watching your pilgrimage in the Holy Land, the place where history came into being, where our forefathers and our prophets once lived and breathed.”

The Tourism Minister noted that the visit of the Pope has “historical significance for Jews and Christians everywhere. I believe that the tidings of peace you bring will permeate the hearts of hundred of millions of Catholics all over the world; and I hope that they will follow your example and visit the Holy Land as well.”

“Your call to all the faithful to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem carries great significance for us and will help promote the very peace to which you have referred in your speeches here in Israel.”

The Pontiff, like his predecessor John Paul II on his pilgrimage to Israel in 2000, recited Psalm 122 (in Latin) - a prayer which was traditionally said by pilgrims who would come to Jerusalem three times a year. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels."

As is the custom at the Western Wall, the Pope placed a note in the cracks of the wall, which reflected the theme of peace which has defined his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The text – as released by the Vatican: “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” (Lamentations  3:25)

Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office

 

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates first ever mass in Jerusalem in Gethsemane: “Jerusalem’s walls - a symbol of God’s provident care.”

On the second day of his visit to Israel (Tuesday, 12 May), Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Holy Mass in the Garden of Gethsemane at the Kidron Valley to an audience of several thousand faithful, including Catholics from the Holy Land and pilgrims and tourists from around the world.

Gethsemane, located at the foot of the Mount of Olives and beneath the city’s 400 year old walls, is known as the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before his crucifixion.

Speaking from a vast stage specially erected for the Holy Mass, the Pontiff pursued his theme of seeking peace in the Holy Land: “Jerusalem…has always been a city whose streets echo with different languages, whose stones are trod by people of every race and tongue, whose walls are a symbol of God’s provident care. As a microcosm of our globalized world, this city … must be a place where prejudice, ignorance and the fear that fuels them are overcome by honesty, integrity and the pursuit of peace.”

In his address, Pope Benedict urged the local Christian community, which has dwindled over recent years due to relatively high emigration and low birth rates, to strengthen its presence in the Holy Land: “Today I wish to repeat what I have said on other occasions: In the Holy Land there is room for everyone!"

At the conclusion of the moving ceremony, the atmosphere transformed as the crowd burst into applause, waving flags and chanting, in unison, “Benedetto, Benedetto,” to the apparent delight of the Pontiff who smiled as he left the area.

Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office

 

The Last Day of the Papal Pilgrimage

“With words of encouragement, I conclude my pilgrimage to the holy places of our redemption and rebirth in Christ."

On the final day of his five-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection. 

A traditional escort of men in black robes and red fezzes, rhythmically banging staffs on the ground to announce his approach, accompanied the Pontiff as he entered the Church. Benedict knelt down and kissed the rectangular stone on which Jesus' body is believed to have been placed after the crucifixion – a gesture that millions of pilgrims make when they visit the Church, one of the most visited Christian sites in Israel.

When Pope Benedict entered the structure inside the church marking the site of Jesus' tomb, he knelt inside alone for several minutes, hands clasped, as priests chanted nearby.

In his address at the church, the Pope urged those gathered in the church not to lose hope: "The Gospel reassures us that God can make all things new, that history need not be repeated, that memories can be healed, that the bitter fruits of recrimination and hostility can be overcome... With those words of encouragement, I conclude my pilgrimage to the holy places of our redemption and rebirth in Christ."


Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office

At the state ceremony marking the end of Pope Benedict XVI's Israel visit at Ben Gurion International Airport, the Pontiff spoke of "some of the powerful impressions that my pilgrimage to the Holy Land has left me", expressed his sorrow at the brutal extermination of Jews in the Holocaust and called for the realization of the two-state solution.

In his speech, President Shimon Peres thanked the pope for his visit to the Holy Land ("We are deeply appreciative "), and called his "journey to the Holy Land… a heartfelt example of the exercise of spiritual values and …a significant contribution to the new relations between the Vatican and Jerusalem."

After the ceremony, the Pope boarded the special El Al flight back to Rome, together with the members of his delegation.

Picture courtesy of the Government Press Office