Posted on 06/08/2014 1:45:42 PM PDT by NYer
Pope Francis (front L), Israeli President Shimon Peres (front R), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (rear L) and Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the Orthodox Christians, arrive in the Vatican Gardens to pray together at the Vatican June 8, 2014. REUTERS/Max Rossi
Pope Francis has called on God to act where human efforts have failed to end what he described as violence inspired by the Devil during a ceremony attended by the presidents of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“More than once we have been on the verge of peace, but the Evil One, employing a variety of means, has succeeded in blocking it,” the Pope said at an evening ceremony in the Vatican Gardens. “That is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God.”
The Pope addressed his remarks to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during an “invocation for peace” in the Holy Land, to which he had invited them during his visit to the region two weeks earlier.
“I was young, now I am old. I experienced war, I tasted peace,” Mr Peres said in an English portion of his statement. “Never will I forget the bereaved families, parents and children, who paid the cost of war. And all my life I shall never stop to act for peace for the generations to come. Let’s all of us join hands and make it happen.”
According to an official translation of Mr Abbas’s prepared Arabic text, the Palestinian president said: “We want peace for us and for our neighbours. We seek prosperity and peace of mind for ourselves and for others alike.”
The event, at which Christians, Muslims and Jews prayed in each other’s presence, was almost certainly the first of its kind at the Vatican, according to Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office.
The starting time of 7 pm had been chosen in part to avoid the midday heat, yet temperatures were still in the mid 80s less than an hour earlier, when Mr Peres arrived by car at the Vatican guesthouse, where the Pope lives. Mr Abbas arrived at 6:30 pm, and 15 minutes later the two presidents embraced in the presence of the Pope.
“Nice to see you,” Mr Peres and Mr Abbas told each other in English.
Joining the group was Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, whom Fr Lombardi had described as one of the event’s “four protagonists”, and Franciscan Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, custos of the Holy Land and the principal coordinator of the event.
The five men rode together in a white minivan the short distance to the site of the ceremony, a triangular area of lawn walled off by tall hedges along two sides. The setting had been chosen, according to Fr Lombardi, because of its “neutral” appearance, lacking in religious imagery.
Pope Francis and the two presidents sat at the corner of the triangle where the two hedges met.
Along the hedge to to their left sat what the Vatican described as “political” members of the Israeli and Palestinian delegations, including both nations’ ambassadors to the Holy See; Christian religious leaders, including Patriarch Bartholomew, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Palestinian Lutheran Bishop Monib Younan; and musicians who performed between prayers during the ceremony.
Along the other hedge sat various Muslim, Jewish and Druze religious figures, including Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Omar Abboud, long-standing friends of the Pope from Buenos Aires and leaders respectively in their city’s Jewish and Muslim communities, who accompanied Pope Francis during his visit to the Holy Land.
Members of the Palestinian and Israeli delegations and guests of Pope Francis read a selection of Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers, in order of their religions’ historical precedence. Each set of prayers praised God for creation, begged forgiveness of sins and asked for peace in the Holy Land.
Patriarch Bartholomew read in English from the Book of Isaiah: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent – its food shall be dust.”
At the end of the ceremony, which lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, the Pope, Patriarch and the two presidents kissed each other on both cheeks, then took up shovels and added dirt to the base of a newly planted olive tree. They then spent about 15 minutes speaking privately inside the nearby Casina Pio IV, a 16th-century villa which now houses several pontifical academies.
Ping!
With a superior IDF to back it up.
**Pope Francis tells presidents only God can bring peace to Holy Land**
Amen!
From Matthew, Chapter 10
[34] Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. [35] For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Comment from the Douay Rheims Bible
>>[35] I came to set a man at variance: Not that this was the end or design of the coming of our Saviour; but that his coming and his doctrine would have this effect, by reason of the obstinate resistance that many would make, and of their persecuting all such as should adhere to him.<<
Pope Francis is chasing a pipe dream
The God of Christians is Jesus Christ. Not so for Muslims. So yes its a pipe dream. Their stated goal since its founding is to drive Christians from the face of the earth. B16 said Islam is not a religion of peace. Too bad Francis does not have the wisdom of Pope Benedict.
.....Or rather with the return of the King of Kings.
Islam is simply is from the devil.
“Their stated goal since its founding is to drive Christians from the face of the earth.”
.....Or just from the Middle East.
New York’s Twin Tower weren’t in the Middle East, were they?
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
G-d helps those who help themselves.
Francis: “More than once we have been on the verge of peace, but the Evil One, employing a variety of means, has succeeded in blocking it,” the Pope said at an evening ceremony in the Vatican Gardens. “That is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God.”
Peres: Right. Only I can make piece. OK. You convinced me. I’ll do it this time.
Abbas: Yes! With the help of Allah, the Jooos! will have an even crazier President now, one with a real death wish, one who is totally delusional, not just almost totally delusional, and then we will slaughter them all! Note to self: Must practice my mass slaughter of Joooz! ululate trilling.
Why do you ask that question?
Thank-you for making my day and God Bless.
De nada, and you too.
I think he is on to something.
It was in response to your Post 11. If you can’t make the connection, I can’t help you.
New York City ain’t in the Middle East.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.