Pope Benedict's Blunt Words At End of Holy Land Trip

Well Pope Benedict is on the way home. I am not sure how he does these trips. The whole trip just seems so exhausting from afar.

I very much liked his departure speech. See "No More Bloodshed! No More Fighting! No More Terrorism! No More War!" -ADDRESS OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
DEPARTURE CEREMONYBEN-GURION AIRPORTTEL AVIV15 MAY 2009


As usual "The German Issue" was at play at of course. This was sort of like the sex abuse issue on his U.S trip. "Why hasn't he said anything" or "is that all he is going to say" was the mantra almost before the first day of that trip even started. People forget the Pope has a way of hitting things at various points.

The ceremony at the Presidential Palace was followed by one of the most solemn moments of my stay in Israel – my visit to the Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vashem, where I met some of the survivors who suffered the evils of the Shoah. Those deeply moving encounters brought back memories of my visit three years ago to the death camp at Auschwitz, where so many Jews - mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends - were brutally exterminated under a godless regime that propagated an ideology of anti-Semitism and hatred. That appalling chapter of history must never be forgotten or denied. On the contrary, those dark memories should strengthen our determination to draw closer to one another as branches of the same olive tree, nourished from the same roots and united in brotherly love.

I am sure that will be deemed insufficient by some idiots

I like this part:
Mr President, I thank you for the warmth of your hospitality, which is greatly appreciated, and I wish to put on record that I came to visit this country as a friend of the Israelis, just as I am a friend of the Palestinian people. Friends enjoy spending time in one another’s company, and they find it deeply distressing to see one another suffer. No friend of the Israelis and the Palestinians can fail to be saddened by the continuing tension between your two peoples. No friend can fail to weep at the suffering and loss of life that both peoples have endured over the last six decades. Allow me to make this appeal to all the people of these lands: No more bloodshed! No more fighting! No more terrorism! No more war! Instead let us break the vicious circle of violence. Let there be lasting peace based on justice, let there be genuine reconciliation and healing. 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. Let it be likewise acknowledged that the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland, to live with dignity and to travel freely. Let the two-state solution become a reality, not remain a dream. And let peace spread outwards from these lands, let them serve as a “light to the nations” (Is 42:6), bringing hope to the many other regions that are affected by conflict.

All in all his speeches were very inspiring I thought.