Pope Francis makes his first official visit to the Holy Land

The Telegraph

Pontiff uses his first official trip to the Middle East to call for urgent steps to end Syria's civil war, in a trip meant to reassure the region's dwindling Christian population

Jordan King Abdullah II, right, walks with Pope Francis upon his arrival in Amman, Jordan Photo: EPA

A gust of wind blows off Pope Francis' cap as he holds mass at Amman International Stadium  Photo: Muhammad Hamed/RBy Reuter

3:02PM BST 24 May 2014

Pope Francis began his first visit as pope to the Holy Land by praising Jordan's efforts "to seek lasting peace for the entire region".

"This great goal urgently requires that a peaceful solution be found to the crisis in Syria, as well as a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said.

More than 160,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict and millions have fled to neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

After meeting King Abdullah and saying a Mass in an Amman stadium, the pontiff will meet some of those Syrian refugees in Bethany on the Jordan, the place where according to tradition Jesus was baptised, as well as others who fled violence in Iraq.

                                             Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Ammon Stadium

 

Conflict across the region, including the Arab revolts of recent years and the civil war in Syria, has accelerated a historic decline in its Christian community.

In Israel and the occupied West Bank, where the pope will travel on Sunday and Monday, more Palestinian Christians are looking to leave, accusing Israel of eroding their economic prospects and hobbling their freedom of movement.

Francis, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, will also use the trip to appeal to members of all religions to work together for peace.

"Religious freedom is in fact a fundamental human right and I cannot fail to express my hope that it will be upheld throughout the Middle East and the entire world," he said.

Technically, the main reason for the trip is for Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians to mark the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting in Jerusalem by their predecessors which ended 900 years of Catholic-Orthodox estrangement.

That highlight will come on Sunday, when Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I preside over a joint prayer service in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.

At the Jordanian stadium where Pope Francis said Mass on Saturday, thousands of people cheered the news of his arrival in Amman.

But alongside their celebrations, some expressed fears for their future in a region where Christianity is rooted.

Thamer Boulus, a 45-year-old Iraqi teacher, said he fled the city of Mosul with his family because he was receiving death threats as a Christian." I want to immigrate anywhere there is safety for me and my family. Religious extremism is threatening Christians," he said.

                                                                       ^{Pope Francis gives a speech at the Royal Palace (AFP)}

On Sunday morning Pope Francis flies by helicopter to Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, making a six-hour visit to what the Vatican's official programme calls "the State of Palestine," a terminology Israel rejects.

Francis will spend Monday in Jerusalem, visiting the grand mufti of Jerusalem and Israel's chief rabbis separately.

He'll also pray at the Western Wall and visit the Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem and will become the first pope to lay a wreath of flowers on Mount Herzl, named for the founder of modern Zionism. He returns to the Vatican just before midnight Monday night.

In 2012, the Vatican angered Israel by supporting a vote in the United Nations General Assembly to grant Palestinians de facto statehood recognition.

Israel argues such a move should only come through negotiations.

                                               ^{Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he arrives at Amman International Stadium (REUTERS)}

Palestinians see the pope's visit, and the fact that he is flying in directly from Jordan instead of going through Israel's security barrier from Jerusalem, as a major morale boost. Jordan, a majority of whose population is of Palestinian origin, signed a peace accord with Israel 20 years ago.

To underscore his conviction that all three great monotheistic faiths can live together in the region and help to tackle the political stalemate, Francis has enlisted a rabbi and an Islamic leader to be part of a travelling papal delegation for the first time.

The two – Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Omar Abboud, director of the Institute for Religious Dialogue in Buenos Aires – are friends from when Francis was cardinal in his native Argentina.

Their presence is "an extremely strong and explicit signal" about the importance of inter-religious dialogue in the region, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

Pope Francis, the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years, will head on to Israel on Sunday night for a 32-hour visit packed with 16 events.

Threats to Christians have been scrawled by suspected Jewish radicals on Church property in the Holy Land. One read: "Death to Arabs and Christians and all those who hate Israel."

"Their writings desecrate our religious symbols. They are written on walls of churches, monasteries," Archbishop Fouad Twal, Jerusalem's top Catholic official, said in Amman.

"We want these perpetrators to be put to justice and we want to know who is behind these extremist groups. They sour the peaceful atmosphere we want to create for the Holy Father."

Israeli security forces, fearing that Jewish militants might carry out a major action against the Christian population or institutions, issued restraining orders against several Jewish right-wing activists for the duration of the pope's trip.

The last papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land was in 2009 by Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict.

The Vatican spokesman had suggested that with such a grueling schedule, Francis might not have the strength for an on-board press conference on the return flight from Israel. Francis, 77, who has only one full lung and has battled a cold and fatigue that forced him to cancel some recent appointments, set the record straight at the start of the trip.

"One of you said a press conference wouldn't be possible because this is a 'deathly' trip," he told reporters on board. "But returning home, I intend to have the press conference."

He then greeted reporters one by one - and even posed for a "selfie."

Edited by Harry Alsop