John Allen skriver om hvor godt pave Benedikt klarte å balansere sin oppmerksomhet overfor jødiske og muslimske ledere i jerusalem tirsdag 12. mai – og illustrasjonen fra TV2 viser hvor vanskelig det er. Allen er ganske positiv i dette innlegget (mens han andre ganger under besøket har stilt seg mer undrende overfor pavens prioriteringer. Han skriver:
One theme of Pope Benedict XVI’s week-long visit to the Holy Land has been outreach to both Muslims and Jews, and today brought the week’s most delicate balancing act: Visits to both the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall, neighboring sites in Jerusalem’s Old City sacred to Islam and Judaism, respectively, as well as meetings with both the city’s Grand Mufti and Grand Rabbis.
Though Benedict XVI has met both Muslims and Jews before, meeting them both on the same day, and in two of the holiest sites on earth for each faith, was a novelty. At the level of symbolism, Benedict tried to offer just the right touch in both places.
At the Dome of the Rock, a sanctuary housing the rock from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Heaven, Benedict removed his shoes. (The fact that he didn’t take them off at the Hussein-bin-Talal mosque in Jordan, even though his hosts told him he didn’t need to, caused a brief frisson.)
The pontiff also began his address this morning in what Muslims call the «noble sanctuary,» the square outside the Al-Aqsa mosque, by saying, As-salamu ‘alaikum, meaning «peace be upon you,» the traditional Islamic greeting.
At the Western Wall, Benedict followed the lead of his predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II, and left behind a note in the wall with a written prayer. In this case, Benedict prayed for «peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, and upon the entire human family.»
Benedict’s effort at balance even extended to the length of the pope’s talks. His speech to the Grand Mufti was 775 words long, while the address to the Grand Rabbis was 763.