AMMAN, Jordan — Pope Benedict XVI told approximately 20,000 followers in an open-air Mass on Sunday that Christians in the Middle East are “deeply touched by difficulties and uncertainties,” but that they must be strong in their faith to counter religious extremism.
The pope’s message on the final day of his pilgrimage to Jordan was for Christians to persevere as their populations decline in a Middle East that offers limited economic opportunity and is torn by violence and radicalism.
“May you never forget the great dignity which derives from your Christian heritage, or fail to sense the loving solidarity of all your brothers and sisters in the church throughout the world,” said the 82-year-old pontiff, who leaves Jordan today to visit Israel and the West Bank.
Much of Benedict’s concentration in this tribal kingdom was on improving the Vatican’s relations with the Muslim world following his 2006 lecture that quoted a medieval emperor as saying some of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings were “evil and inhuman.”
Moderate Muslim clerics credited the pontiff’s speech Saturday at the Al-Hussein bin Talal mosque as a sign that the pontiff was serious about interfaith dialogue.
During Sunday’s Mass in Amman International Stadium, Benedict turned his attention to Christians in the Holy Land, whose numbers have been declining for decades.
“Fidelity to your Christian roots, . . . demands of each of you a particular kind of courage: the courage of conviction, born of personal faith, not mere social convention or family tradition,” Benedict said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
