Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI’s World Day of Peace message:
If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation:
The environment must be seen as God’s gift to all people, and the use we make of it entails a shared responsibility for all humanity, especially the poor and future generations. (2)
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Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, [...]
“No friend of the Israelis and the Palestinians can fail to be saddened by the continuing tension between your two peoples. No friend can fail to weep at the suffering and loss of life that both peoples have endured,” said Pope Benedict on the last day of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Young massgoers in the crowd as Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass on Mount Precipice in Nazareth, May 14, 2009. Photo by CRS staff
If earlier parts of Pope Benedict’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land had edges of tension, Thursday’s Mass in Nazareth was relatively short on controversy. Thirty thousand people strong, it had the feel of [...]
Read the rest of this entry »‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,’ the well-worn Robert Frost quote goes, and that something was me on Wednesday. Wandering around Bethlehem’s eerily empty streets in the heat, I was unable to leave the city after a day of papal events because a very large slab of concrete was blocking my way.
Read the rest of this entry »Benedict began his day with much-scrutinized visits to the Dome of Rock, which Muslims hold sacred, and the Western Wall, sacred to Jews. Perhaps it felt like a homecoming to be among his Catholic flock in the grand Co-Cathedral of the Latin Patriarchate, nestled in the cobblestoned Old City of Jerusalem.
Read the rest of this entry »Pope Benedict surprised many commentators when, just minutes after stepping off his plane in Tel Aviv, he called for a homeland for both Israelis and Palestinians. Many expected, and applauded, his strong denunciation of anti-Semitism. But few expected him to bring up the issue of Palestinian statehood so quickly.
Read the rest of this entry »Everyone here is testing the wind, too, wondering if and how Pope Benedict’s visit will change things in the Holy Land. Some Christians, focusing on the pope’s pilgrimage instead of political issues, are just glad he’s here to share in their faith lives.
Read the rest of this entry »You are currently browsing the CRS Voices blog archives for the Pope Benedict XVI feature.
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