Jordanian prince wants Pope to develop 'template of hope' during trip to Holy Land
May 21, 2014: Jordan's Prince El Hassan bin Talal expressed the desire to see "a template
of hope" developed during Pope Francis' May 24-26 visit to the Holy Land. Speaking
with Catholic News Service,(CNS), the prince welcomed the pope's decision to have
a rabbi and a Muslim leader accompany him on the three-day visit to Jordan, Israel
and the Palestinian territories. Observers believe the gesture underscores the importance
the pope attaches to interreligious dialogue. "Whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim,
extremists seem to be doing their best to bring about Armageddon, rather than work
toward any form of convivial solution, whereby the Holy Land is not only holy in name
and description, but also in perspective of the future," the prince said. "That's
why His Holiness' visit accompanied by a Jew and Muslim, I think, is more than just
symbolic," he said in a May 17 interview. Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Muslim leader
Omar Abboud who will be part of the official Vatican delegation, are friends of Pope
Francis from his native Argentina. The pope invited them to make the trip with him,
in order to send what Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, called,
"an extremely strong and explicit signal" about the importance of interreligious dialogue
in the Middle East, one of the world's most troubled and conflict-ridden regions.
The prince also underscored the importance of Francis' meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew of Constantinople in the hopes that efforts for Christian unity will be
enhanced. A recent meeting between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
and the prince's Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies issued a joint appeal in
Amman May 14 calling for "integral education" and denouncing all forms of violence.Signed
by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue, and Prince Hassan, the statement condemns "all forms of violence, and most
recently, the kidnapping of the Nigerian schoolgirls." Prince Hassan has worked with
retired Pope Benedict XVI, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger; in 1999, both were among
the cSource: CNS