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...Pope Benedict XVI covered a whole lot of sacred terrain on Tuesday. But even as the Pontiff carried a message of peace and reconciliation to some of the holiest sites of the three monotheistic faiths, the weeklong papal visit to the Middle East risks unraveling under the weight of the region's complicated history and Benedict's continuing struggle to be heard both loudly and clearly...
Under a bright morning sky, Benedict took off his red papal slippers and entered the Dome of the Rock, the 7th century Jerusalem shrine built where Muslim tradition says the Prophet Muhammad began his ascent to heaven. From there, the Pope followed in John Paul II's footsteps, walking up to place a written prayer in the Western Wall, the remains from the Second Temple (built in the 1st century B.C.) that many say is the historic heart of Judaism. Later in the afternoon, the German Pontiff led a Mass in the ancient Kidron Valley just outside the Old City...
...encounter at the Dome of the Rock with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, the Pope said common principles bind Islam, Christianity and Judaism. "Those who honor the one God believe that he will hold human beings accountable for their actions," Benedict said. "Undivided love for the one God and charity for one's neighbor thus become the fulcrum around which all else turns. This is why we work untiringly to safeguard human hearts from hatred, anger or revenge." (Read TIME's cover story on the Pope's relations with Islam...
Taken on face value, however, Benedict's brief remarks were eloquent, a kind of prayerful meditation about how the names of those murdered renders them nonetheless inextinguishable from the eternal book of human history. "They lost their lives but they will never lose their names," the Pope said, speaking in his softly accented English. "These are indelibly etched in the hearts of their loved ones, their surviving fellow prisoners, and all those determined never to allow such an atrocity to disgrace mankind again." The Pope clearly grasps the scope and horror of the Holocaust. He added this chilling contemplation...
Vatican observers make a point to not constantly compare Benedict to his predecessor: two different men facing two different challenges. Still, their biographies are linked in a way that gave the German Pope a unique chance to complete the legacy of his Polish predecessor in helping to reconcile the 20th century Christian Europe that failed to save its Jews from near annihilation. Instead, eloquent and heartfelt as he may have been, Benedict came to Israel's Holocaust memorial and spoke neither as a man of his times nor his place. With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem