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| Pope Francis waves as he leaves Rome's Jesus' Church to celebrate a mass with the Jesuits, on the occasion of the order's titular feast, Friday, Jan. 3, 2014. |
VATICAN CITY
(AP) -- 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 Francis' close ties to the Jewish community, his
outreach to Muslims and the Vatican's longstanding call for peace
between Israel and the Palestinians.
The
announcement was made Sunday just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
wrapped up three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a
new U.S. bid for peace.
Francis told
thousands gathered in the rain for his weekly Sunday blessing that he
would 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, following his 2013 visit to Brazil for World Youth
Day.
Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, will be the fourth pope to visit the Holy Land after Paul VI's landmark visit in 1964.
In
his Christmas address, Francis 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.
"We are hoping for a new glimmer of
light from this visit in relations with the Orthodox, with Muslims and
Jews," Monsignor William Shomali, auxiliary bishop in Jerusalem, told
Vatican Radio on Sunday.
All three governments welcomed the papal visit.
The
Palestinian news agency Wafa said President Mahmoud Abbas hoped it
would "contribute to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people
who aspire for freedom, justice and independence."
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry Yigal Palmor said Francis was "will be greeted as warmly as his predecessors were."
Jordan's
Royal Palace said the Amman leg of Francis' visit - on May 24 - would
mark a "significant milestone for brotherhood and forgiveness between
Muslims and Christians and consolidates the message of peace."
Francis
said his prime aim was 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 over the primacy of the pope.
Francis
will be joined in Jerusalem by the current ecumenical patriarch,
Bartholomew, who became the first ecumenical leader to attend a papal
installation since the schism when he traveled to Rome for Francis'
inaugural Mass in March. They will celebrate Mass together at the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful believe Jesus was crucified
and buried.
Francis' full itinerary hasn't
been released, but Rabbi Skorka said he hopes the pope will stop at the
Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem.
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 that 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.
The German-born Pope Benedict XVI followed up nine years later with his own visit.
