VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis says his upcoming trip to the Holy Land aims to boost relations with Orthodox Christians. But the three-day visit in May also underscores his close ties to the Jewish community, his outreach to Muslims and the Vatican’s longstanding call for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Francis will visit Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem on May 24-26. It is the only papal trip confirmed so far for 2014 and the second foreign trip of Francis’ pontificate, after his 2013 visit to Brazil for World Youth Day.
In his Christmas address, he singled out the Holy Land for prayers, saying, “Bless the land where you chose to come into the world and grant a favorable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.”
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – now Pope Francis – made interreligious dialogue a top priority, hosting an annual interfaith ceremony in the Argentine capital’s cathedral to promote religious harmony and writing a book on faith with his good friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka.
All three governments welcomed the papal visit.
Francis said his prime aim is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and the then-spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Atengora.
Catholics and Orthodox have been divided since the Great Schism of 1054, precipitated largely by disagreements about the primacy of the pope.
The Catholic Church in the Holy Land said the visit was aimed “mainly at spreading and promoting love, cooperation and peace among all inhabitants.”
After decades of reluctance by the Vatican to recognize the Jewish state, the Polish-born John Paul II forged formal relations in 1993, following it up with an official visit to Israel in 2000, which included stops at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and at the Western Wall, where he famously left a handwritten plea asking forgiveness for Christian persecution.
