Visit of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land

On the occasion of the pilgrimage of His Holiness Pope John Paul II
March 14, 2000

In few days we will welcome the Holy Father in his pilgrimage to the Holy Land: it is his Jubilee pilgrimage. A jubilee is a time of prayer, of thanksgiving, of forgiveness, and spiritual renewal.

It is with the Christian community of the Holy Land, living since the beginning of Christianity and until today, around the Holy Places, and on the sites which keep the memory of the divine mysteries of salvation, that Pope John Paul II, will make his pilgrimage, will pray and will confirm the local Church as well as the universal Church in his spiritual renewal on the occasion of the Jubilee year.
Moreover, Pope John Paul II makes his pilgrimage to the places of salvation as head of the Catholic Church. Therefore he brings within him his own person, but also the whole reality of the Catholic Church, which he brings back to the sources and to the roots.

Because, here Jesus lived, taught, was crucified and resurrected form the dead. Here the Church was born on the day of Pentecost. From here Peter went to Rome. Here in these days he comes back to pray, as the apostles one day prayed with Jesus himself, and to confirm his brothers in faith as Jesus once recommended him to do. Here he comes back, to pray in the holy places of salvation, with all Christians, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. As man of the Spirit, as head of the Church, he will meet also with all the believers in this land of God, Moslems and Jews, and with the political heads of the land. To all he will bring a spiritual message of love and peace in his homilies and speeches.
We hope that our political leaders will hear the spiritual message and will take more courage to achieve justice and peace in this land and in the whole region.

We hope that God will hear our prayers in those days, will hear the prayers of all people of good will of the three religions in this land, who pray in humility and in the silence of their hearts, and who will join their prayers to those of the Pope, may God bestow on this land justice and reconciliation.

We address a cordial invitation to all to share with us this spiritual pilgrimage. May it be the opening of new times in which Jerusalem will become what God wanted it to be, a city of prayer and hence a city of peace, in which all believers meet to make peace, here, in the region and in the world.