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Pope Francis’s visit to Israel: Important milestone in deepening relations with the Catholic Church

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h_50810674-1The visit of Pope Francis to Israel on 25-26 May will mark an important milestone in the deepening relationship between the Catholic Church, Israel and the Jewish people.  The pontiff will arrive Sunday afternoon at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. From there he will directly travel to Jerusalem by helicopter. 

Pope Francis announced his pilgrimage to the Holy Land on 5 January 2014 by saying: “The main purpose of this pilgrimage of prayer is to commemorate the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, which took place on 5 January, exactly 50 years ago today.”

He will be the fourth Pope to come to the Holy Land.  In 1965, the Second Vatican Council adopted Nostra Aetate ('In our time'), a statement of doctrine which rejected the charge of deicide, condemned all forms of anti-Semitism and reaffirmed the permanence of spiritual relationship between God and historic Israel.  But it would take another 28 years until the Vatican recognized the modern state of Israel and established diplomatic relations in 1993.

During his visit on Monday (26 May), Pope Francis will pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, lay a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, the movement for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the biblical Land of Israel, and visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial, meet with the Chief Rabbinate asd well as with Israeli Preisdent Shimon Peres and hold a private meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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