During Meeting with Craftsmen, Clarifies Nature of Pilgrimage
VATICAN CITY, MAR 19 (ZENIT.org).- Before ending his meeting with the 35,000 craftsmen who gathered in St. Peter's Square to celebrate their Jubilee, John Paul II referred to his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which begins tomorrow. In the few words he dedicated to this topic, he clarified that his visit «is inspired only in religious motives,» and has nothing to do with political issues.
The Pope is going to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories «with profound emotion» to visit «the places where the Word became flesh, lived, and died and rose again for our salvation.»
Joaquín Navarro-Valls, director of the Vatican Press Office, stressed the same point last Friday during a meeting with journalists in which he described the various stages of this singular papal journey.
Pilgrimage The Vatican spokesman stressed the importance of using the term «pilgrimage» to describe this trip to the Holy Land, as well as last month's papal trip to Egypt and Mount Sinai. This term, Navvarro-Valls said, defines the very nature of the trip. The spokesman then listed four aspects that must be borne in mind to understand the meaning of this trip. He said that the Pope wishes this to be a pilgrimage to Biblical sites linked with the life of Jesus and a return, in a way, «to the roots of our faith,» a continuation of the paths he has undertaken in the search for Christian unity and for inter-religious dialogue and, lastly, a step forward in the quest for peace in the Middle East.
The director of the Vatican Press Office said that the fact that this is a pilgrimage explains the great number of personal and private visits the Holy Father will make during his stay. «He wishes to pray in these places and to bring the Church with him into the Third Millennium, following in the steps of Jesus.»
Friend of Jews and Palestinians After saying that the Bishop of Rome «is going to Israel as a friend of the Jewish people,» he pointed to the friendly relations that John Paul II has with the Jews and emphasized how, throughout his life and pontificate, «the Pope has told Catholics that anti-Semitism and any form of racism are sins.»
«The Pope is also going to the territories of the Palestinian National Authority as a friend of the Palestinian people,» Navarro-Valls said. «He is going as the Pope who more than once has spoken of the right of Palestinians to a 'homeland.' In his homily the first Christmas that he was Pope, in 1978, he had already spoken of his desire to go to Bethlehem.»
The foregoing makes it easier to understand why the Pope exclaimed at noon today: «May this visit, inspired only in religious motives, bring auspicious good fruits for the entire Church!»
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