Pope Benedict Walks Out of Inter-Faith Meeting After Pressure from Palestinians

From TimesOnline
By James Hider

Pope Benedict XVI walked out of an inter-faith meeting in Israel last night after a Palestinian cleric called on the pontiff to help stop Israeli "crimes".

The Pope is visiting some of the holiest sites in Judaism and Islam today in the latest stage of his Holy Land pilgrimage.

The Vatican has insisted the trip is a spiritual, not political journey, but that has not stopped Palestinians from looking to him to criticise Israeli restrictions on their freedom of movement and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory.

At one point, the Catholic leader – who has dedicated his visit to reconciliation between the three mutually distrustful religions - walked out of an interfaith meeting last night when a Palestinian Muslim cleric attacked Israeli policy in Jerusalem, and called on the Pope to help stop Israeli “crimes”.

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