Pope’s visit to Mideast controversial, inspiring

Pope Benedict XVI is back in the Vatican today after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land during where he found out that old grievances die hard. From the legacy of the Holocaust, to the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation, to the fragile interfaith ties, as the Associated Press put it, Benedict came face-to-face with this truth: Peace and unity in the Middle East, while moral imperatives, will not be achieved easily or quickly.

But the pontiff’s visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories served to offer hope to a region long driven by a sense of hopelessness.

“Let everyone reject the destructive power of hatred and prejudice, which kills men’s souls before it kills their bodies,” Benedict said Thursday at an open-air mass in Nazareth, the town of Jesus’ boyhood. Tens of thousands followers heard his message of reconciliation, urging Christians and Muslims to overcome recent strife.

The pope met with Jordanian King Abdullah, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

From each, the pope heard pleas for greater Vatican involvement in forging lasting peace in that troubled region of the world. But he also heard a litany of complaints that forms the basis of tensions in the Middle East.

Indeed, Benedict’s own heritage became an issue during his visit to Jerusalem. As a German who was a member of Hitler Youth during the war — it was not voluntary service — he was viewed with suspicion by some in Israel even before his visit.

Thus, his every word about the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews was analyzed for substance and tone. And not surprisingly, his critics pounced on the fact that he failed to use the words “murder” or “Nazis” in a speech at the country’s national Holocaust memorial.

In addition, the pope’s failure to use the word “sorry” for the Vatican’s conduct during the Holocaust — Pope Pius XII is accused by Jews of not doing enough to stop the slaughter — also became a point of contention.

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But, fairness dictates that the pontiff’s previous comments, including an apology, be taken into consideration.

During an audience with Jewish leaders at the Vatican earlier this year, Benedict recalled a prayer by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem asking for God’s forgiveness for the treatment of Jews and said, “I now make his prayer my own.”

Benedict also made a powerful pledge at Yad Vashem to never forget the victims’ names.

But despite having to confront the deeply rooted feelings of Jews, Muslims and Christians during his week-long Middle East visit, there is no doubt that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church has established himself as a prince of peace. Now, he must put into the action the words that he spoke about unity among religions and peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Indeed, Prime Minister Netanyahu appealed to the pope to make his voice heard and to use his moral authority to condemn the harsh anti-Israel rhetoric voiced by Iran’s hard-line president.

“I asked him, as a moral figure, to make his voice heard loud and continuously against the declarations coming from Iran of their intention to destroy Israel,” the prime minister said after a 15-minute meeting with the pope.

It is not an unreasonable request — and is acknowledgement that the head of the Catholic Church does wield formidable moral power.

Benedict should hear the calls for the Vatican to become actively involved in bringing an end to the death and destruction that have plagued the Middle East for so long.