JERUSALEM (CNA)—On the last day of his Holy Land pilgrimage, May 26, Pope Francis stopped to pray at two sacred sites in Jerusalem. The pontiff visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem on the morning of May 26, pausing to pray at the site and leaving the Our Father in Spanish tucked into one of the cracks.
The Wall is a sacred place for Jews, the only remains of second temple. Deviating from his planned itinerary, he also stopped to visit a memorial to Israeli victims of terrorism. Later at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Pope Francis met with survivors of the Holocaust.
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Pope Francis lauds fraternal dialogue with Muslims, Jews
JERUSALEM (CNA)—Pope Francis spent a large part of the third day of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land meeting with Muslim and Jewish leaders, praising the shared commitment to dialogue.
“We are experiencing a fraternal dialogue and exchange which are able to restore us and offer us new strength to confront the common challenges before us,” the pope told Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on May 26.
He met with the Muslim leader and others the morning of May 26 at the Dome of the Rock.
The pontiff took the opportunity to reflect on the figure of Abraham, “who lived as a pilgrim in these lands,” and serves as an important figure to the three major religions.
“Muslims, Christians and Jews see in him, albeit in different ways, a father in faith and a great example to be imitated. He became a pilgrim, leaving his own people and his own house in order to embark on that spiritual adventure to which God called him,” he said.
Like Abraham, we are on an “earthly pilgrimage” but “we are not alone. We cross paths with our brothers and sisters of ours … we experience with them a moment of rest which refreshes us.”
Pope Francis noted that Abraham’s attitude should be an example for every person.
A pilgrim “makes himself poor” and “sets out intently toward a great and longed-for destination” living in “hope of a promise received.”
“This was how Abraham lived and this should be our spiritual attitude,” he encouraged.
