CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the \u201cInvocation for Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\tJoined by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, the three leaders prayed for peace in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI am profoundly grateful to you for accepting my invitation to come here and to join in imploring from God the gift of peace. It is my hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new journey where we seek the things that unite, so as to overcome the things that divide,\u201d said Pope Francis on June 8 in the Vatican gardens.<\/p>\n
\tThe Pope had issued the invitations on his recent trip to the Holy Land in late May. The presidents quickly accepted the invitation.<\/p>\n
\tPresidents Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas arrived separately to meet with Pope Francis individually in the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse. The three eventually met and were joined by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, before proceeding to the Vatican gardens for an \u201cInvocation for Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe evening\u2019s prayer was divided into three parts, following the chronological ordering of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious communities. Prayers were offered in Hebrew, English, Italian, and Arabic, praising God for creation, asking pardon for sin, and requesting the gift of peace.<\/p>\n
\tSelections included several psalms, a prayer from the Jewish Day of Atonement service, a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, and several Islamic prayers.<\/p>\n
\tAfter the prayers, Pope Francis, Israeli President Shimon Peres, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas each spoke briefly about the need for peace.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis meeting of prayer for peace in the Holy Land, in the Middle East and in the entire world is accompanied by the prayers of countless people of different cultures, nations, languages and religions: they have prayed for this meeting and even now they are united with us in the same supplication,\u201d said Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt is a meeting which responds to the fervent desire of all who long for peace and dream of a world in which men and women can live as brothers and sisters and no longer as adversaries and enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe pontiff then cautioned that \u201cpeacemaking calls for courage, much more so than warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHistory reveals that peace cannot come merely through human strength, noted the Pope. \u201cThat is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God. We do not renounce our responsibilities, but we do call upon God in an act of supreme responsibility before our consciences and before our peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPope Francis encouraged those present to \u201cbreak the spiral of hatred and violence\u201d with the word \u201cbrother.\u201d We must \u201clift our eyes to heaven and acknowledge one another as children of one Father,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tIsraeli President Shimon Peres then made a heart-felt appeal for peace, saying \u201cI come to call for peace between nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe, too, acknowledged that \u201cpeace does not come easy.\u201d Even if peace \u201cseems distant,\u201d the Israeli president continued, \u201cwe must pursue it to bring it close.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe are commanded to pursue peace,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n
\tPeres expressed his belief that \u201cif we pursue peace with determination, with faith, we will reach it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe recalled that in his life, he had seen both peace and warfare. He would never forget the devastation caused by war. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe owe it to our children,\u201d to seek peace, stressed Peres.<\/p>\n
\tPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke in the words of a prayer, beseeching the Lord \u201con behalf of my people, the people of Palestine \u2013 Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans \u2013 who are craving for a just peace, dignified living, and liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGrant, O Lord, our region and its people security, safety and stability. Save our blessed city Jerusalem; the first Kiblah, the second Holy mosque, the third of the two Holy Mosques, and the city of blessings and peace with all that surround it,\u201d Abbas prayed.<\/p>\n
\tThe Muslim political leader affirmed, \u201creconciliation and peace, O Lord, are our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe prayed that God would \u201cmake Palestine and Jerusalem in particular a secure land for all the believers, and a place for prayer and worship for the followers of the three monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and for all those wishing to visit it as is stated in the Holy Koran.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe evening closed with a handshake of peace amongst the leaders, and the planting of an olive tree, symbolic of the desire for peace on behalf of each of the religious communities.<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/AbuRxmiWQTs\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.”<\/p>\n
\tJoined by the Patria…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.” Joined by the Patria...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.” Joined by the Patria...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-08T19:31:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/L_R_Palestinian_President_Mahmoud_Abbas_Pope_Francis_Israeli_President_Shimon_Peres_and_Patriarch_Bartholomew_I_of_Constantinople_June_8_2014_Credit_Alan_Holdren_CNA_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/\",\"name\":\"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-08T19:31:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-08T19:31:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.” Joined by the Patria...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents","description":"Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.” Joined by the Patria...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents","og_description":"Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.” Joined by the Patria...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2014-06-08T19:31:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/L_R_Palestinian_President_Mahmoud_Abbas_Pope_Francis_Israeli_President_Shimon_Peres_and_Patriarch_Bartholomew_I_of_Constantinople_June_8_2014_Credit_Alan_Holdren_CNA_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/","name":"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-08T19:31:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-08T19:31:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 \/ 01:31 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis welcomed the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican on Sunday evening for an unprecedented meeting of prayer, the “Invocation for Peace.” Joined by the Patria...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/06\/pope-prays-for-peace-with-israeli-and-palestinian-presidents\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope prays for peace with Israeli and Palestinian presidents"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/L_R_Palestinian_President_Mahmoud_Abbas_Pope_Francis_Israeli_President_Shimon_Peres_and_Patriarch_Bartholomew_I_of_Constantinople_June_8_2014_Credit_Alan_Holdren_CNA_CNA.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\n