Pope Francis to travel to Holy Land in May amid peace push
Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he would
travel to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan in May, his first visit to
the Holy Land and one that comes amid a new US push for peace between
Israel and the Palestinians. (Jan. 5)
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The announcement was made Sunday just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a new U.S. bid for peace.
Francis told thousands gathered in the rain for his weekly Sunday blessing that he would visit Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem on May 24-26. It is the only papal trip confirmed so far for 2014 and the second foreign trip of Francis' pontificate, following his 2013 visit to Brazil for World Youth Day.
PHOTOS: Pope Francis | Cartoonists on conclave
MORE: Take the podium: What should his priorities be?
Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, will be the fourth pope to visit the Holy Land after Paul VI's landmark visit in 1964.
In his Christmas address, Francis singled out the Holy Land for prayers, saying "Bless the land where you chose to come into the world, and grant a favorable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians."
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — made interreligious dialogue a top priority, hosting an annual interfaith ceremony in the Argentine capital's cathedral to promote religious harmony and writing a book on faith with his good friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka.
"We are hoping for a new glimmer of light from this visit in relations with the Orthodox, with Muslims and Jews," Monsignor William Shomali, auxiliary bishop in Jerusalem, told Vatican Radio on Sunday.
All three governments welcomed the papal visit.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said President Mahmoud Abbas hoped it would "contribute to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people who aspire for freedom, justice and independence."
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry Yigal Palmor said Francis was "will be greeted as warmly as his predecessors were."
Jordan's Royal Palace said the Amman leg of Francis' visit — on May 24 — would mark a "significant milestone for brotherhood and forgiveness between Muslims and Christians and consolidates the message of peace."
Francis said his prime aim was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and the then-spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Atengora.
Catholics and Orthodox have been divided since the Great Schism of 1054, precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.
Francis will be joined in Jerusalem by the current ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew, who became the first ecumenical leader to attend a papal installation since the schism when he traveled to Rome for Francis' inaugural Mass in March. They will celebrate Mass together at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful believe Jesus was crucified and buried.
Francis' full itinerary hasn't been released, but Rabbi Skorka said he hopes the pope will stop at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem.
The Catholic Church in the Holy Land said the visit was aimed "mainly at spreading and promoting love, cooperation and peace among all inhabitants."
After decades of reluctance by the Vatican to recognize the Jewish state, the Polish-born John Paul II forged formal relations in 1993, following it up with an official visit to Israel in 2000 that included stops at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and at the Western Wall, where he famously left a handwritten plea asking forgiveness for Christian persecution.
The German-born Pope Benedict XVI followed up nine years later with his own visit.
The Pope should start small and tell Andrew Cuomo that it not for the State of New York to decide when holy days are and not to favor faith's over another.
See below. Andrew Cuomo is not a man of God and must succumb to NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3. If he has no use for it, he can leave for Rome or the Holy Land and work on something other than trying to become King and Emperor of the US. London Bookies will give him the odds.
Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island
Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma,
NY 11779-7348
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LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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