Pope Francis’s first apostolic visit to the Holy Land can be dubbed as the pilgrimage of peace. In many respects, the Argentinian pontiff has been an outstanding herald of that peace which marked the life of St Francis of Assisi.

Bethlehem, the place of birth of the Prince of Peace, witnessed an extraordinary initiative by Pope Francis. He boldly and humbly invited both the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, to meet at the Vatican to pray together for the cause of peace in the Holy Land.

The invitation was made to both leaders at the end of the Eucharist Pope Francis celebrated in Manger Square. He said: “In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace. I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer.”

Let us pray that the Pope’s initiative which, according to reports, will occur on June 6, will bear that much-desired fruit the Middle East region direly needs.

Peace is a long journey marked with patience and perseverance in what is good and true. In his short address at Bethlehem the Pope said: “All of us want peace. Many people build it day by day through small gestures and acts; many of them are suffering, yet patiently persevere in their efforts to be peacemakers.”

Francis acknowledged that “building peace is difficult” but added that “living without peace is a constant torment”. That is why leaders who are “placed at the service” of their fellow peoples “have the duty to become instruments and artisans of peace, especially by our prayers”.

Another powerful meeting was when Pope Francis met with child refugees. In his afternoon encounter with a small group of youth and child refugees in the Dehiyse Refugee Camp’s Phoenix Cultural Centre in Bethlehem, the Holy Father practically repeated St Paul’s injunction to the Roman Christian Community when the latter was greatly persecuted by the Roman Empire. “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).

While fully acknowledging the “children of Palestine’s” message of freedom, peace and justice, the Pope strongly encouraged them to never let hatred and violence control their lives. On the contrary, they are to move forward armed with the armour of peace. “Never ever allow the past to determine your lives. Always look forward. Work and fight to bring about what you want.”

The visit at the Yad Vashem Memorial clearly proved the Holy Father’s commitment to work for peace by openly denouncing violence. After visiting the 1953 monument that commemorates the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust as well as speaking with some Holocaust survivors, Pope Francis expressed his and the Church’s condemnation of what happened to the people of the Old Covenant under the merciless hands of the “massive idolatry”.

The work for peace is vast and urgent

After signing the Yad Vashem Book of Honour, Francis wrote: “With shame for what man, created in the image and likeness of God, was able to do. With shame that man became the patron of evil; with the shame for what man, believing himself to be god, sacrificed his brothers to himself. Never again! Never again!”

The work for peace is vast and urgent. The common declaration of Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I unravels a joint vibrant commitment to work for the values that consolidate society.

“As we make this journey towards full communion we already have the duty to offer common witness to the love of God for all people by working together in the service of humanity, especially in defending the dignity of the human person at every stage of life and the sanctity of family based on marriage, in promoting peace and the common good, and in responding to the suffering that continues to afflict our world.

We acknowledge that hunger, poverty, illiteracy, the inequitable distribution of resources must constantly be addressed. It is our duty to seek to build together a just and humane society in which no-one feels excluded or emarginated” (§ 5).

How can we collaborate with Pope Francis to bring peace in our world?

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