POPE ENDS TRIP WITH MID-EAST PLEA

BBC NEWS
iddle_east/8051987.stm
2009/05/15 12:32:06 GMT

Pope Benedict XVI has finished his eight-day pilgrimage to the
Middle East, calling for an end to fighting between Israel and the
Palestinians.

At a farewell ceremony, attended by Israeli leaders, he called for
"no more bloodshed, no more fighting".

He said the Holocaust "must never be forgotten or denied".

Israeli President Shimon Peres thanked him for his visit, calling it a
"profound demonstration of the enduring dialogue" between Christians
and Jews.

He particularly highlighted the Pope’s statement about the Holocaust
never being denied, saying it carried "substantive and special weight".

" I prayed for a future in which the peoples of the Holy Land can
live together in peace and harmony " Pope Benedict XVI "It touched
our hearts and minds."

The Pope, in reply, described the "powerful impressions" he had
gathered during his visit.

Meeting Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem was "one of
the most solemn moments" for him.

"Those deeply moving encounters brought back memories of my visit
three years ago to the death camp at Auschwitz, where so many Jews
– mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends –
were brutally exterminated under a godless regime."

The "appalling chapter of history must never be forg otten or denied",
he said.

During his visit, the Pope was criticised by commentators and
politicians for failing to express sufficient remorse for the Holocaust
and over his membership of the Hitler Youth as a teenager.

Palestinian homeland

Addressing the Middle East conflict, the Pope pleaded for an end to
violence: "No more bloodshed, no more fighting, no more terrorism,
no more war."

He reiterated the call for a two-state solution, as Israel had the
right to exist, and the Palestinians "have a right to a sovereign
independent homeland".

He also spoke about the wall built by Israeli authorities to separate
Israel from Palestinian territories.

"As I passed alongside it, I prayed for a future in which the peoples
of the Holy Land can live together in peace and harmony without the
need for such instruments of security and separation."

On his final day in Jerusalem the Pope visited the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, believed to stand upon the site where Jesus was crucified.

He told pilgrims that the "bitter fruits of recrimination and hostility
can be overcome".

The Pope was greeted at the church, one of the holiest shrines in
Christendom, by representatives of the Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic,
Armenian and Ethiopian churches, which jointly administer the site.

He knelt in front of the Stone of the Anointing, where Jesus’ body
is said to have been prepared for burial after the cr ucifixion,
and prayed in the tomb where Christians believe his body was interred
for the three days before the resurrection.

He then led prayers in the church, which he said would conclude his
pilgrimage, telling the congregation not to lose hope.

The Pope’s busy tour has included visits to sites sacred to all three
monotheistic religions.