NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

Pope's visit announced
by Patriarch of Jerusalem

Dec. 24, 2008



Pope Benedict XVI is to make his first visit to the Holy Land in May, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem has said.

Fouad Twal said the Pope wished to pray with the people of Jerusalem and acquire first-hand knowledge of the difficult conditions facing the region.

Archbishop Twal did not give specific dates for the visit but reports suggest the Pontiff could travel to Jordan, Israel and the West Bank in mid-May.

He is expected to visit Nazareth and Bethlehem during the trip.

While he is there, Pope Benedict will also meet the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The trip will be his first visit to the Middle East since his election as pontiff in 2005.



Archbishop Twal, the Vatican's most senior representative in the Holy Land, gave the first official confirmation of the trip during his Christmas message.

He said that Pope Benedict would, just like his immediate predecessors, be visiting Jerusalem as a pilgrim.

"The Supreme Pontiff wishes to pray with us and for us, and to acquire first-hand knowledge of the hard conditions of our region," he added.

In his Christmas message, the archbishop expressed the hope that the region would see an end to "occupation... injustice... fears, hardships and [the] internal divisions that beset this land".

The building of Israeli settlements "strangles" the land, the archbishop added.

He called on the international community to reach a "just and final peace in the Holy Land", and encouraged Palestinians to seek political reconciliation.

"We also call upon the Palestinians themselves to return to unity in the context of a recognised Palestinian legal structure, and in this way to spare the people the continuing and degrading siege," Archbishop Twal added.

The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been run by separate administrations since June 2007, when the Islamist militant group Hamas ousted forces loyal to Mr Abbas and his Fatah movement from the Gaza Strip.

The Patriarch, who was born into a Christian Bedouin tribe in Jordan, was appointed to his current post by the Vatican in June.

He replaced Michel Sabbah, who was also known for his passionate appeals for an end to violence in the Middle East.

Relations between Israel and the Vatican have become tense in recent months, after news leaked out that the Vatican was considering making the wartime Pope Pius XII a saint, reports the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

Some Israelis accuse Pius of having turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, although the Vatican denies this.

However the beatification of the sometimes controversial Pope has been put on hold by Pope Benedict for the time being, as he wants to create a positive atmosphere for his first visit to the Middle East, says our correspondent.

Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit Israel, in 1964. The last Pope, John Paul II, visited in 2000.


Pope set to visit Holy Land in May



JERUSALEM, Dec. 24 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Holy Land in May on his first trip to the region as pontiff, Jerusalem's Latin patriarch says.

"With joy we would like to announce to you the desire of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Holy Land as a pilgrim next May," Fuad Twal, the Catholic leader in the Holy Land, told reporters on Tuesday.

It was the first official confirmation of Benedict's widely mooted trip to the region - his first since being elected pope in 2005.

"The supreme pontiff wishes to pray with us and for us, and to acquire a first-hand knowledge of the hard conditions of our region," Twal said in his Christmas message.

"We are confident in the Lord that this pontifical pilgrimage and pastoral visit will be a blessing for all of us as well as a substantial contribution to better understanding among the various nations of the region, lifting the barriers and helping solve the problems, removing distress and consolidating good relations among people, religions and denominations," Twal said.

He did not give specific dates. "We are studying the program with the local authorities," he said. Last week the Italian newspaper Il Foglio said the Pope would travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories from May 8 to 15.

According to Il Foglio, the Pope will celebrate mass in Jerusalem and again in Nazareth and Bethlehem where he will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

No meeting is planned with representatives of the radical Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, the report said.

Earlier in December, Israeli President Shimon Peres said he met a Vatican delegation to discuss preparations for a possible visit by Benedict to Israel next year.

During a visit to Italy in September 2007, Peres invited the Pope to Israel. The Pope responded that he would be happy to accept the invitation, but no date was set.

Already uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been further strained by the prospect that Nazi-era Pope Pius XII will be declared a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.

The controversy, which has lingered for decades, resurfaced in October as the pontiff defended the memory of his wartime predecessor and said he hopes his beatification - the first step towards sainthood - would go forward quickly.

But, citing Jewish sensitivities, the Vatican later indicated that Benedict was holding off the beatification process.

Peres has stressed that the row should not affect plans for the proposed papal trip.

Benedict's visit will come at a time when Church leaders bemoan a shrinking Roman Catholic population in the Holy Land over recent years.

"Churches suffer from the ongoing emigration of the Christians due to the lack of peace and the deterioration of the political situation," Twal said.

He also railed against the greed, injustice, violence and persecution that he said beset the Holy City, as well as "the building of settlements that strangle it".

"All this makes us anxious for the future of the Christian community in the Homeland of Christ," Twal said.

Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit Israel, in 1964, and Pope John Paul II visited in 2000.



Jerusalem patriarch confirms
visit by Benedict XVI



Jerusalem, December 23 (ANSA)- The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, has officially confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Holy Land in May.

The announcement was made in the patriarch's first Christmas message.

''It is with great joy that we announce the desire of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Holy Land as a pilgrim next May. The Pontiff wishes to pray with us and for us and to have first-hand knowledge of the difficult situation in our region,'' Jerusalem's archbishop said.

Although the Vatican has confirmed Benedict's intention to visit the Holy Land in 2009, it has yet to give any precise dates.

Some observers believe the pope will announce his visit over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.

Last week the Italian daily Il Foglio cited Vatican sources who said that the pope would begin his visit in Jordan on May 8 and would be in Israel May 11-15. [Report was translated and posted on this thread.]

According to Il Foglio, Benedict also intends to meet with Palestinian Authority officials during his visit.

The daily wrote that the pope will celebrate three important masses, one in Jerusalem, one in Nazereth and one in Bethlehem.

Il Foglio also reported that Benedict has no intention of meeting with representatives from the Hamas Islamic party but would visit the Yad Vashem memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and hold talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

The possibility that the pope would visit the Holy Land in 2009 was first confirmed by the Vatican last month after it was reported by the Israeli daily Haaretz.

At the time the Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy, said the visit was ''very probable''.

''We're working hard on it,'' he said. ''A visit by the pope to the Holy Land would have incomparable historic value and he himself has already announced his desire to go there,'' Lewy added.

The ambassador admitted that there were ''certainly differences of opinion'' between the Vatican and the Israeli authorities, but that these did not constitute an obstacle to the pontiff's visit.

The main cause of contention between the two states centres around wartime Pope Pius XII, who many Jews have criticised for failing to speak out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust.


In messages, Holy Land church leaders
call for peace, reconciliation
By Judith Sudilovsky



JERUSALEM, Dec. 23 (CNS) -- Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal's first Christmas message as patriarch of Jerusalem was one of hope and encouragement, without ignoring the Holy Land's difficulties.

"Christmas has come and so we are full of hope. We are thankful for hopeful signs around us, such as recent international encounters at the highest levels among religious leaders and among other peacemakers," Patriarch Twal said in his Dec. 23 message.

He told journalists at a press conference that after his first six months as patriarch he felt "fine" in the "most beautiful and most complicated diocese in the world."

"There are many problems, yet at the same time I do not feel alone in this mission. It will be OK," he added.

In his message, he said hope did not prevent the daily sadness from the "instability, insecurity, the unclear vision for the future and not least the aggression against citizens and their land and property."

The patriarch called Iraq "the second tragedy" which could not be ignored. Iraq's population, culture, heritage and history have been undermined "because of its occupation by foreign military forces."

"It is our wish that all Iraqi citizens should be able to remain in their homeland," he said. "We pray for the unity of Iraq and for its return to normal life."

The patriarch also confirmed that a papal pastoral visit to the Holy Land will take place in May.

In a separate Christmas message Dec. 18, Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, addressed the world financial crisis.

"The torments that today most brutally afflict society are of an economic nature. Materialistic society discovers with dismay its deepest fragility. Being poor or becoming poor becomes a real possibility for everyone," he said. "But this is only the outward sign of a deeper poverty that afflicts the soul. We too discover that we are shepherds in the night."

"This year more than ever we are certain that we will not be alone in seeking the child," he added.

In a separate Dec. 22 Christmas message, the patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land urged believers to stand alongside those who suffer.

They said they prayed that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and other world leaders would see the "urgent need for peace in the Middle East."