Pope Returns To Rome
Pope John Paul II is back in Rome. The pope left Jerusalem Sunday, ending his historic and demanding journey to the Holy Land. He spent his last day visiting several sacred sites, including the spot where, tradition says, Jesus was resurrected, CBS News Correspondent Alan Pizzey reports.
Surrounded by priests of every Catholic and Orthodox denomination, John Paul II climaxed his Holy Land pilgrimage at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity's most sacred sites. Each part of the church where he held Mass is claimed and maintained by a different group.
The pontiff left behind a Holy Land touched by gestures humble and grand -- from his loving pat on the head of a young Palestinian refugee to his plea for forgiveness of Christian persecution at Judaism's holiest shrine.
Still, Israelis and Palestinians found it difficult to set aside their rivalries, even in the pontiff's presence.
On Sunday in Jerusalem -- which both Israel and the Palestinians claim as their capital -- the two sides used flags to grab the pope's attention. The Palestinians floated a huge national banner tethered to balloons above the Old City's skyline, while a bouquet of seven bedsheet-sized Israeli flags provided the backdrop for the pope's Western Wall stop.
But the spiritual leader of one billion Roman Catholics, or one-sixth of the world's population, did not allow himself to be drawn into the sovereignty dispute, though he made gestures of recognition to both sides before leaving Sunday evening for Rome.
John Paul kissed Palestinian soil and held hands with Yasser Arafat, as much a symbol as a leader, in an affirmation of the Palestinians' right to a homeland.
But he also blessed the Jewish state and paid his respects to the Israeli president, a final negation of his church's teaching that the exile of the Jews' from the Biblical land of Israel was divine punishment. The pontiff also visited the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, and placed a written plea asking for forgiveness of Christian persecution.
On Wednesday, he drove into a Palestinian refugee camp -- Dheisheh, a miserable gray cinderblock town of 10,000 people squeezed into a half square mile and said Palestinian suffering must end now.
A day later, standing in the eerie darkness of Israel's Holocaust memorial, he paid tribute to six million Jews, among them childhood friends from Poland, who were killed by the Nazis.
The balancing act was successful, and everyone seemed pleased.
Israelisfrom the prime minister on down, praised the visit as a historic milestone.
"Two thousand years of war are over," said Rabbi Ron Kronish, an interfaith activist. "The basic enmity between Christians and Jews is now a thing of the past."
The Palestinians focused on the political message. In his own subtle way, they said, the pope supported their demands for a withdrawal from lands captured by Israel when, in the presence of Arafat, he spoke of the need to carry out all U.N. resolutions.
Many Muslims said they were touched when, during Mass in Bethlehem's Manger Square on Wednesday, the pope respectfully waited for a Muslim prayer call to end before resuming his service.
By the end of the weeklong pilgrimage, the stooped 79-year-old ivory-robed visitor with the shuffling gait, his right hand resting on a wooden cane, had become a familiar figure to Muslims and Jews.
There were even the first signs of "popemania" and adulation, spoofed in a satirical TV puppet show that had Ehud Barak's Cabinet ministers lining up outside the pope's confessional.
In many ways, the visit broke new ground.
In Israel, where crosses are still a symbol of Jewish persecution, a crucifix featured prominently in a promotional logo for the papal trip used by one of the two main TV channels.
Both stations ran live broadcasts of the pope's outdoor Mass for 100,000 young believers near the biblical Sea of Galilee, with Hebrew subtitles translating the homily echoing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
Arad Nir, anchor of the Channel Two broadcast, discussed New Testament passages on the air with Hebrew-speaking priests.
"The relations between Christians and Jews won't be the same after this visit," said Nir, noting that until now, most of his countrymen have been ignorant about Christianity.
Still, in the harsh reality of the Holy Land, the good will began to dissipate quickly.
Only an hour after the pope left Dheisheh, hundreds of residents at the refugee camp hurled stones at Palestinian police, feeling provoked by the security forces.
Tenth-grader Tareq Zakieh, 15, said he believed John Paul could work wonders, even though he had disappointed many in Dheisheh by offering no mention of the refugees' right to return. "If the pope spoke with Israel, I think it is possible we could go back home," the boy said.
The pope's appeal was so broad that he was cherished in the most diverse communities, including the working class Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot, just a 10-minute drive from Dheisheh.
Ilan Amsalek, 52, an observant Jew who was on his way to synagogue for morning prayers, said the pope's show of empathy for Jewish suffering, especially the moment the pontiff patted the arm of a weeping Holocaust survivor, had changed his view of Christians.
"This shows that the religions can get along," he sad.
Palestinian Yousef Balbou, a handyman and devout Muslim, said the pope had done his part. Now it was up to the people of the Holy Land to learn to get along, he said.
"Everyone, Israelis and Palestinians, heard what he said," said Balboul, 32, from El Khader village near Bethlehem. "Now we have to get it into people's heads."