JERUSALEM — Pope Benedict XVI ended his pilgrimage to the Holy Land on Friday with a stirring call for peace at the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and then made an emotional appeal to Israel and the Palestinians: “No more bloodshed. No more fighting. No more terrorism. No more war.”
After a week-long struggle to get his message across through a din of Israeli criticism and Palestinian protest against Israel, Benedict delivered his strongest words yet on the Jewish state’s right to exist and the Palestinians’ right to a country of their own.
“Let it be universally recognized that the state of Israel has the right to exist, and to enjoy peace and security within internationally agreed borders,” Benedict said at the airport before boarding a plane to Rome. “Let it be likewise acknowledged that the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland.”
Dogged at every turn by controversy and politics, Benedict chose a message on the last day of his trip — delivered in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection — that peace is possible.
Among other goals, Benedict’s trip was meant to further the Catholic Church’s outreach to Jews and Muslims and support the Christian communities of the Holy Land.
The pope appeared to make headway on those fronts, though his visit lacked the historic resonance of his predecessor Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage nine years earlier.
During the farewell ceremony, Israeli President Shimon Peres was generous in his praise of Benedict, calling the pontiff’s trip “a profound demonstration of the enduring dialogue between the Jewish people and the hundreds of millions of Christian believers throughout the world.”
