Plea for peace and forgiveness

Following in the footsteps of St Paul, Pope John Paul II tours the eastern Mediterranean basin. Michael Jansen tracks the papal trail
Pope John Paul II succeeded in promoting reconciliation between the Catholic Church, on the one hand, and the Orthodox and Muslim worlds, on the other, during his six-day pilgrimage to Greece, Syria and Malta. His efforts may be for nothing, however, unless and until the Roman church eschews the traditional doctrine that it is the "true representative of God on earth."
This stand was reaffirmed in September 2000 by the conservative Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith which said that followers of religions other than Catholicism "are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation." John Paul II, who has sincerely worked for rapprochement among Christian churches, Jews and Muslims during his 23-year papacy, paradoxically endorsed the congregation's declaration.
On his arrival in Athens, the pope set the tone of his pilgrimage by reaching across the 1,000-year gulf between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. He made a sweeping statement of regret for Catholic "sins of commission and omission" against Orthodox Christians, including the sacking of the Byzantine Empire's capital, Constantinople, in 1204. The fact that the forces which committed this act of wanton destruction "were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret," he admitted. Although the pope's visit to Greece was opposed by unforgiving conservative Orthodox clerics, he apparently won over the church hierarchy and ordinary Greeks with his handsome apology. The rest of the world's 200 million Orthodox believers were also moved and the gesture prepared the way for his visit to Syria.
Met by President Bashar Al-Assad at Damascus International Airport, the pope began his three-day stay in the country by calling for a return to the original principles of the Arab-Israeli peace process. "My pilgrimage is... an ardent prayer of hope. [...] It is time to return to the principles of international legality; the banning of acquisition of territory by force, the right of peoples to self-determination, respect for the resolutions of the United Nations and the Geneva convention." While he did not mention Israel by name, the pope was obviously referring to its occupation of Arab land and its repressive campaign against Palestinians.
This was music to Syrian -- and Arab -- ears, accustomed to pro-Israel policy statements from Western Christian leaders. When on Sunday morning the pope celebrated high mass at a football stadium in Damascus, the congregation of 40,000 was swelled by Arab Orthodox, the largest denomination amongst the country's 2.4 million Christians. His gesture of contrition in Athens had clearly encouraged them to attend the service, during which he reiterated his call for reconciliation and understanding.
The most important event of the pilgrimage came when the pope visited the Umayyad Mosque at the heart of Damascus. Stepping through the main door of the prayer hall on slippered feet, in deference to Muslim tradition, John Paul II became the first pope ever to enter a Muslim place of worship.
It was fitting that he should choose the eighth century Umayyad mosque -- for several reasons. First, this mosque, the fourth holiest in Islam, is known as the "mother of mosques" since it incorporated features -- prayer niche, pulpit and minarets -- which became standard in all Muslim houses of worship. Second, the site has been devoted to religious observance for more than 2,000 years. It was dedicated to the Aramaean god Hadad during pagan times. In the first century AD the Romans constructed a temple to Jupiter on the site. In the fourth century this was transformed into the Byzantine church of St John the Baptist, whose head is believed to be buried in a tomb now lying within the mosque, making it a place of pilgrimage for both Muslims and Christians.
Third, when in 635 Damascus was conquered by Arab armies, the Muslims established a place of worship at the eastern section of the compound. There they prayed side by side with Christians for 70 years until they persuaded the Christians to yield their place in exchange for four new churches. Finally, one of the Umayyad mosque's three minarets is named after Issa, or Jesus. After a minute's silent meditation in the tomb of St John (known to Muslims as the Prophet Yehya), the pope said Muslims and Christians should "offer each other forgiveness" for all the times they "have offended one another."
Although this was not equivalent to the apology offered to the Orthodox, it amounted to an admission by the leader of the world's one billion Catholics that their church had also committed sins against Muslims, who now number over one billion.
The pope followed up his visit to the mosque with prayers in the hollow shell of the Greek Orthodox Church of Our Lady (the Virgin Mary, venerated by both Muslims and Christians) in the ghost town of Qunaitra, located on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Once a thriving market town of 53,000 -- including 20,000 Christians -- Qunaitra is now a ruin that falls within the UN-controlled demilitarised zone. When Israel withdrew from the town in 1974, its troops bulldozed, dynamited or shot up its buildings. What had been a new hospital was used as a training-centre for Israeli assault troops.
Damascus has refused to rebuild Qunaitra until the whole of the Golan is returned to Syrian rule and the town's population of half a million refugees is permitted to return home, even if the Syrian villages have been erased by Israel from the face of the land. The pope's plea for peace in tragic Qunaitra, the most overtly political gesture of his pilgrimage, somewhat makes up for his not apologising to Muslims for the Western Christian Crusades which devastated the Levant 1,000 years ago.
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