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Popes In The Holy Land: After 2,000 Years, A New Tradition

Pope Paul VI is greeted by a cheering crowd in Jerusalem's Old City on Jan. 4, 1964. Despite the city's central role in Christianity, Paul VI was the first pope to visit Jerusalem. AP hide caption

Pope Paul VI is greeted by a cheering crowd in Jerusalem's Old City on Jan. 4, 1964. Despite the city's central role in Christianity, Paul VI was the first pope to visit Jerusalem.

Pop quiz: How many popes have visited Jerusalem over the past 2,000 years?

What papal destination could be more natural than the Holy Land, where the pontiff can walk Jerusalem's stone streets and follow the footsteps of Jesus. Popes have dispatched envoys, emissaries and even Crusader armies to claim the territory for the Catholic Church. And from the Vatican, it's just a short hop across the Mediterranean.

So Pope Francis must be joining a long list of predecessors when he arrives Saturday for a three-day visit in the region, including Monday in Jerusalem.

Well, not exactly. No pope ever traveled to Jerusalem until Paul VI spent one day in the city, on Jan. 4, 1964.

That pilgrimage also marked the first time a reigning pontiff had ever been on an airplane. Equally remarkable, Paul VI was the first pope to leave Italy in more than 150 years.

With that historic trip, the era of the stay-at-home pope was beginning to end. It disappeared for good when the globe-trotting John Paul II became pontiff in 1978.

Still, it took John Paul more than two decades as pope, and trips to dozens of other countries, before he appeared in the Holy Land in 2000. When he did, it was a huge success and established a new papal tradition that has been followed by Pope Benedict, who visited in 2009, and now Pope Francis.

So Francis is the fourth pope to visit the Holy Land, and the third in the past 14 years.

Pope John Paul II speaks to Israel's two head rabbis, Meir Lau (left) and Eliahu Bakshi-Doron (right), during his visit to Jerusalem in 2000. The pontiff reached out to both Jews and Muslims on his trip and was warmly embraced. His successors as pope, Benedict XVI and Francis, have also visited the Holy Land. Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Pope John Paul II speaks to Israel's two head rabbis, Meir Lau (left) and Eliahu Bakshi-Doron (right), during his visit to Jerusalem in 2000. The pontiff reached out to both Jews and Muslims on his trip and was warmly embraced. His successors as pope, Benedict XVI and Francis, have also visited the Holy Land.

Reaching Out To Jews And Muslims

Aside from a trivia question, these papal trips speak to the way the church is attempting to reach out, not only to Catholics, but to other faiths as well.

Pope Francis is traveling with two long-time friends from his native Argentina, Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Islamic studies professor Omar Abboud.

"Its greatest importance may lie in the fact that it reflects the normalization of relations between the Vatican and the State of Israel," Abraham Foxman , head of the Anti-Defamation League, writes of Pope Francis' visit.

Through much of history, popes weren't welcome in the Holy Land.

For many Muslims, the papacy is still linked to the Crusades of the 11th through the 13th centuries, when successive popes sent armies to battle Muslims and reclaim holy places for the Christians.

Catholics and Jews also had tortured relations that included centuries of Christian anti-Semitism in Europe and the church's official position of neutrality during World War II and the Holocaust.

An important breakthrough came in 1994, when the Vatican and Israel formally established relations, paving the way for better ties and John Paul's 2000 visit.

The pope was warmly embraced by Israelis as he declared that the Catholic Church was "deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place."

He also went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, and placed a letter in a crack in the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jewish worship.

Likewise, Muslims welcomed the pope with enthusiasm as he toured the West Bank and called for a Palestinian state.

Related NPR Stories

The 1,000-Year-Old Schism That Pope Francis Seeks To Heal

A Shrinking Christian Population

Ironically, popes are now visiting the Holy Land at a time when the Christian population is rapidly dwindling in the region.

Palestinians Appeal To Pope For Help In Land Disputes With Israel

Middle east, pope to travel to holy land with rabbi and muslim leader.

A century ago, Christians accounted for around 20 percent of the population in the Middle East, while today it is around 5 percent at most, according to John Allen , a longtime Vatican analyst who now works for The Boston Globe .

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and now a Palestinian city in the West Bank, was nearly 90 percent Christian in the middle of the last century. Today, Christians are estimated to account for around 20 percent of the town's residents.

"Christians of course are in the firing line in many parts of the Middle East, Syria being the most recent example, but also in Egypt and other places," Allen told NPR this week. "Part of the agenda for visiting this part of the world is always to give a shot in the arm to what remains of the Christian footprint there."

The pope will also be extending his hand to Orthodox Christians. As NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reported earlier this week, the official reason for the pope's pilgrimage is to mark the 50th anniversary of the rapprochement between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches.

The schism between Eastern and Western Christianity dates to 1054. The first step toward reconciling the churches didn't take place until January 1964 — when Pope Paul VI met Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople on that groundbreaking trip to Jerusalem.

Greg Myre, the international editor of NPR.org, covered Pope John Paul II's visit to the Holy Land in 2000. You can follow him @gregmyre1

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When the Pope Visits Jerusalem: A Retrospective

In 1964, Pope Paul VI arrived in the Holy City. His visit was a whirlwind, lasting for a duration of eleven hours in total, and was viewed by the international community as a historic precendent.

Pope Paul VI, otherwise known as the “Pilgrim Pope,” was the first Pope to travel to six continents while in office. A former Archbishop of Milan, Pope Paul VI completed the Second Vatican Council, which is otherwise known as “Vatican II.” This revolutionary council, initiated by Pope John XXIII before his death, was to usher in a new era for the doctrines of Catholicism.

While in Israel, Pope Paul VI visited several Christian holy sites—the same sites that would later be the destination of Pope John Paul II in 2000, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the time of his visit, the Vatican still did not recognize the State of Israel, even though the Second Vatican Council had revoked the doctrine that the Jews of today are responsible for the death of Jesus.

It was the visit of John Paul II decades later that cast the relationship between the Vatican and Israel in a new light. Unlike his predecessor, John Paul II visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and the Western Wall. The new millennium thus seemed a harbinger of greatly improved relations between Israel and the Vatican.

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P ilgrimage to the Holy Land, 1964     

• Departure from Rome (January 4, 1964) [ Italian ]
• Address to the King of Jordan (January 4, 1964) [ English ]
• Address to the local authorities (January 4, 1964) [ French , Spanish ]
• Prayer during his visit to the Holy Sepulcher (January 4, 1964) [ French , Spanish ]
• Address to the Catholic Communities of Eastern Rite (January 4, 1964) [ French , Spanish ]
• Address to the Armenian Patriarch Yegheshe Derderian (January 4, 1964) [ English ]
• Address to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Jerusalem (January 4, 1964) [ French ]
• Visit to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth (January 5, 1964) [ French , Spanish ]
• Address to a group of pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Milan (January 5, 1964) [ Italian ]
• Address to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras (January 5, 1964) [ Latin ]
• To the "People of the Covenant" (January 5, 1964) [ French , Spanish ]
• Farewell from the Israeli authorities (January 5, 1964) [ French , Spanish ]
• Solemnity of the Epiphany in the Holy Grotto in Bethlehem (January 6, 1964) [ French ]
• Farewell from King Hussein of Jordan (January 6, 1964) [ English ]
• Arrival in Rome (January 6, 1964)  [ Italian ]
• Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord in Rome (January 6, 1964) [ Italian ]
• Address to the Sacred College of Cardinals (January 6, 1964) [ Italian ]

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The Vatican and the Middle East: Pope John Paul II's Trip to the Holy Land

MARSHALL BREGER

Background Historically the Vatican's view of Israel and Zionism was negative. The Vatican explicitly told Herzl that that the Jews were meant to wander, and if they set foot on Palestinian soil the Christians would be there to convert them.

The main concern of the Catholic Church regarding the Holy Land has long been to maintain the status quo of the Catholic holy places. For many years, the Church supported the creation of Jerusalem as an entity independent from the surrounding states--a corpus separatum. But in the 1970s, the Vatican spoke instead of international guarantees for the holy places, an idea that remains Vatican policy today.

Current Issues In 1993, an accord was signed between the Vatican and Israel in which the Vatican formally recognized Israel. The Vatican bureaucracy had been opposed to this accord because it wanted to tie recognition to the settlement of several outstanding issues, particularly the legal and tax status of the Church. But John Paul II insisted that the symbolic act of recognition come first. In the subsequent seven years, negotiations on the legal and tax status of the Church have gone slowly, and this will be an issue during the papal visit. Other issues include access to the Catholic holy places (of which the current situation in Nazareth raises problems), the upkeep and sanctity of the areas surrounding the holy places, and concern about the declining Christian population in the West Bank in contrast to the rising Christian population in Israel.

Israel views the pope in his current visit not only as a pilgrim, but also as a political figure; Israelis welcome the pope's visit as a validation of the state of Israel by the Catholic Church. The last visit of a pope to Israel occurred in 1964. During this visit the pope did not stay overnight in Israel and refused to acknowledge Israel's statehood.

The pope does not view this trip as political; therefore, he will not focus on specific topics regarding the peace process--though he may touch upon the refugee issue in the context of his discussion about human rights. Furthermore, the pope is expected to treat Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Yasir Arafat with full diplomatic protocol and in doing so will advance Arafat's status as a "head of state." The Vatican and the PA signed an agreement at the end of 1999, but a momentous aspect of that agreement was not widely noticed: namely, the PA's recognition of freedom of conscience, which implicitly includes the right to convert from Islam to another religion. This was the first time an Arab state has accepted such a right.

GEORGE WEIGEL

The pope's trip next week is first and foremost a personal pilgrimage. This pilgrimage is part of the Catholic Church's jubilee year and a reminder that the year 2000 is not an accident but rather an act of God.

Pope John Paul II and the State of Israel In December 1963, Karol Joseph Wojtyla, the future John Paul II, went on his first journey to the Holy Land. During this trip, he developed a strong sense of intrigue for the Holy Land and ever since has yearned to return. Pope John Paul II is the first pope to publicly acknowledge the state of Israel, an acknowledgement that he made in a public speech delivered in 1980.

Within the Israeli government there is a great deal of ignorance regarding the Catholic Church. Israeli officials do not always keep in mind that the pope is the head of the Church as well as the leader of a very small state. Although the visit of the pope is a pilgrimage, he is also a de facto head of state and will be treated as such. Still, the fine line between spiritual and political acts of the pope during the trip is one that is bound to cause confusion. The bottom line is that the pope is not going to the Holy Land in a political capacity, and his actions should therefore be perceived as those of a pilgrim, not a head of state.

Pope John Paul II and Judaism Pope John Paul II has done more to further dialogue between Catholics and Jews than has any previous pope. Much of this may have to do with his upbringing in a town that was 20 percent Jewish as well as his active cultural resistance to the slaughter of the Jews during World War II. His strong commitment to the second Vatican Council, which led to a greater understanding of Judaism by Catholics, was also of great importance to the expansion of this dialogue.

In 1983, Pope John Paul II visited the synagogue in Rome as the first pope to make such a gesture. The pope has also made a declaration condemning anti-Semitism and has characterized Judaism as the "older brother" of Catholicism.

This commitment to the continuation of dialogue between Jews and Catholics is firmly in place and will endure after John Paul II. The dialogue will best flourish in the United States because of its vibrant and secure Jewish community as well as its curious and eager Catholic community, which actively reach out and educate themselves about their Jewish neighbors. The exchange is not projected to go as far within Europe or the Middle East where the two communities are in much different circumstances than in the United States.

In the mind of the pope, the diplomatic issues between Israel and the Vatican and the relationship between the Jews and the Vatican have become integrated. At the same time, these two matters are treated in entirely different parts of the Vatican bureaucracy, which should be borne in mind when considering how the Vatican reacts on these issues.

This Special Policy Forum Report was prepared by Erika Reff.

Policy #250

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This week in Jewish history | Pope John Paul II makes first ever pontifical visit to Israel

On 21 March 2000, Pope John Paul II  arrived  in Israel for a historic five-day pilgrimage. During his stay, the pope visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other cities, and talked about the need for peace, blessed Israel, and apologized for sins committed by Christians against Jews. 

The visit came after Israel and the Holy See signed the Fundamental Agreement, thereby establishing  diplomatic relations between the Jewish state and the Vatican on 30 December 1993. The only previous visit of a high-ranking pastor of the Church was Pope Paul VI on 4 January 1964. However, there were a number of differences between the two , including the generally positive tone of Pope John Paul II’s visit exemplified not only in his various speeches, but in its duration, which was significantly longer than Paul VI’s few hours in Israel.      

Pope John Paul II was greeted at Ben-Gurion airport by Israeli President Ezer Weizman, who thanked  him for “condemning antisemitism by labeling it as a crime against God and humanity.” In his remarks, the Pope said, “We all know how urgent is the need for peace and justice, not for Israel alone but for the entire region. May peace be God's gift to the Land he chose as his own." 

During a meeting with Weizman on 23 March, the Pope blessed Israel— a striking moment given that the Catholic Church taught that the Jews' exile was punishment for the death of Jesus.  

During his visit to Yad Vashem, the Pope  said , ''In this place of memories, the mind and heart and soul feel an extreme need for silence. Silence in which to remember. Silence in which to try to make some sense of the memories which come flooding back. Silence because there are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Shoah.” The Pope met with Holocaust survivors, including several from his hometown of Wadowice, Poland.  

The Pontiff concluded his visit by becoming the first Pope to visit the Western Wall. In a time-honored tradition, he placed a note in a crack in the wall. The text of that message read: “God of our fathers, You chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the Nations: We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant.”

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The Dark Side of the Pope’s Visit to Jerusalem

By Gerald Flurry

O ne of the most prophetic events of 2014 happened in late May. It was Pope Francis’s visit to Jerusalem, May 24 through 26. The news media failed to recognize its significance. Though most people are unaware of it, this visit was extremely momentous. It shed light on the future of Europe and of the world, and showed us where we are in Bible prophecy.

The pope’s visit took place amid some very disturbing acts of anti-Semitism in Europe. The day he arrived, four people, two of them Jews, were shot to death in a museum in Brussels. Hours later, two brothers were beaten badly as they left a synagogue in Paris. And these attacks came just after European Parliament elections, when Europeans alarmed people by electing many far-right members and even some neo-Nazis.

Some commentators talked about these elections in terms of the Fourth Reich. In Germany, the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party won 1 percent of the vote and will send a man who called Adolf Hitler “a great man” to the European Parliament. France elected the daughter of a convicted Holocaust denier and racist, even though many feel that she thinks very much like her father.

Israeli Knesset member Dov Lipman warned, “Make no mistake about it. There is a direct connection between the way European leaders speak about Israel and the rise in anti-Semitism.”

On May 26, the World Jewish Congress released this statement about Europe’s rising political extremism as revealed in the election results: “The future of European Jewry is at stake.” You can read more about this trend in our article “ What 79 Million Europeans Think of Jews .”

During his visit to Israel, the pope addressed the murders and said he was sorry that things like this are happening. The Times of Israel also said he also discussed the elections. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said these events are happening because of noxious anti-Jewish sentiments and statements spreading all over Europe. Many Jewish leaders are expressing shock and rage because of this trend in Europe.

People looking only at the surface would view the pope’s visit as a sign of his support of Israel. But if you look closely at what the pope said and did in Jerusalem, you can see how, in reality, he is much more closely connected with the anti-Jewish attitudes simmering in Europe!

What Is the Vatican?

Here is something Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in an October 1951 Plain Truth article titled, “The Pope Plans to Move the Vatican .” I hope you’ll read it closely because it is profound. Under the subhead “The Great Unrecognized Dictatorship,” the article said, “How many have realized these staggering facts: The oldest political dictatorship on Earth is the Vatican! The Roman Catholic Church is far more than a religion. It is also politically a world power. … And how many people know that the real objective of the Catholic political power is precisely the same as the goals of communism and fascism—to gain dominance, control and rule over the whole world! … Of course it is generally known that most nations send ambassadors to the Vatican, and papal ambassadors are established in most world capitals. But it has not been generally grasped that this Roman system is much more than a church—it is a state, called in the Encyclopedia Britannica an Ecclesiastical World Empire—it is a political dictatorship—it is a world power whose influence in many respects outweighs that of any nation on Earth” (emphasis mine throughout).

The Vatican is a dictatorship. It is literally a state, with political interests, foreign policy, sovereign independence, recognition under international law, official relations, diplomatic immunity, administrative departments, ambassadors, a central bank, a capital, a very centralized government—and a man who dictates.

How many people really understand that? How many Catholics understand that? The Vatican governs 1.2 billion Catholics around the world, and it influences millions of other people, as well as national governments.

“ I’m not here saying anything about, or against, Catholic people, either in the United States or elsewhere ,” Mr. Armstrong continued. “ Nor am I here saying anything about the Catholic religion , save that it is pagan, cloaking the original Chaldean mysteries in the garb of Christianity, falsely so labeled, and deceiving its own adherents, who are quite often sincere and devout, with its sense-appealing pomp, ceremony, mysticism and superstition.

“But what I am here concerned with is Catholic political power— the papacy as a world power, a dictatorship, bent on conquering and ruling the world!”

Where does the Vatican have its strongest power? Europe. And that is where the perfect storm of anti-Jewish sentiment is brewing.

What the Pope Did in Jerusalem

The pope did not fly straight to Israel for his visit to the Middle East. Instead, he flew to Jordan on May 24. He spent most of the next day in the Palestinian territories. It is significant that he visited the Palestinians first. And it was there that he made the most eye-catching and significant move of his visit to the Holy Land.

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Pope Francis visits Venice in first trip outside of Rome in seven months

April 28, 2024 / 3:18 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Pope Francis made his first trip out of Rome in seven months on Sunday with a visit to Venice that included an art exhibition, a stop at a prison and a Mass.

Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual encounters, Francis' visit on Sunday stood out.

Francis traveled to the lagoon city to visit the Holy See's pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show and meet with the people who created it. But because the Vatican decided to mount its exhibit in Venice's women's prison, and invited inmates to collaborate with the artists, the whole project assumed a far more complex meaning, touching on Francis' belief in the power of art to uplift and unite, and of the need to give hope and solidarity to society's most marginalized.

His trip began at the courtyard of the Giudecca prison, where he met with women inmates one by one.

"Paradoxically, a stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," Francis told them.

The 87-year-old pontiff then met with Biennale artists in the prison chapel, decorated with an installation by Brazilian visual artist Sonia Gomes of objects dangling from the ceiling, meant to draw the viewer's gaze upward.

The Vatican exhibit has turned the Giudecca prison, a former convent for reformed prostitutes, into one of the must-see attractions of this year's Biennale, even though to see it visitors must reserve in advance and go through a security check. It has become an unusual art world darling that greets visitors at the entrance with Maurizio Cattelan's wall mural of  two giant filthy feet , a work that recalls Caravaggio's dirty feet or the feet that Francis washes each year in a Holy Thursday ritual that he routinely performs on prisoners.

The exhibit also includes a short film starring the inmates and Zoe Saldana, and prints in the prison coffee shop by onetime Catholic nun and American social activist Corita Kent.

Francis' dizzying morning visit, which ended with Mass in St. Mark's Square, represented an increasingly rare outing for the 87-year-old pontiff, who has been hobbled by health and mobility problems that have ruled out any foreign trips so far this year.

"Venice, which has always been a place of encounter and cultural exchange, is called to be a sign of beauty available to all," Francis said. "Starting with the least, a sign of fraternity and care for our common home."

During an encounter with young people at the iconic Santa Maria della Salute basilica, Francis acknowledged the miracle that is Venice, admiring its "enchanting beauty" and tradition as a place of East-West encounter, but warning that it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and depopulation.

"Venice is at one with the waters upon which it sits," Francis said. "Without the care and safeguarding of this natural environment, it might even cease to exist."

in the exhibit as tour guides and as protagonists in some of the artworks.

Ahead of his trip, Francis sat down with "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell during an hourlong interview at the guest house where he lives in Rome. 

During the interview, Francis pleaded for peace worldwide amid the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza .

"Please. Countries at war, all of them, stop the war. Look to negotiate. Look for peace," said the pope, speaking through a translator.

He also had a message for those who do not see a place for themselves in the Catholic Church anymore. 

"I would say that there is always a place, always. If in this parish the priest doesn't seem welcoming, I understand, but go and look elsewhere, there is always a place," he said. "Do not run away from the Church. The Church is very big. It's more than a temple ... you shouldn't run away from her."

The pope's Venice trip was the first of four planned inside Italy in the next three months, Reuters reported. He is scheduled to visit Verona in May and Trieste in July, and is expected to attend the June summit of Group of Seven (G7) leaders in Bari.

In September, he is also set to embark on the longest foreign trip of his papacy, traveling to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An extended version of O'Donnell's interview with Pope Francis will air on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET. On Monday, May 20, CBS will broadcast an hourlong primetime special dedicated to the papal interview at 10 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network and streaming on  Paramount+ . Additionally, CBS News and Stations will carry O'Donnell's interview across platforms. 

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Inside look at Pope Francis' visit to Venice from St. Mark's Square

With a message of hope and faith, this fifth Sunday of Easter, Pope Francis has left Italy's iconic canal-filled city of Venice, after an intense morning, that marked his first pastoral visit, and travel outside of Rome, since the start of the year. This day trip represents the first of others in Italy in the months to come, and falls before his whirlwind four-country Apostolic Visit to Asia and Oceania in September.

At the Holy Father's Mass in St. Mark's Square, the Holy Father offered comforting words to the faithful, telling them to remain in the Lord, clarifying that this does not mean staying still, but rather, letting the Lord's love and closeness empower us.

During his subsequent Regina Coeli address, before he privately venerated the relics of St. Mark, whose feast day was 25 April, inside St. Mark's Basilica, the Holy Father made heartfelt appeals for peace and an end to the suffering around the world, especially in Haiti, Ukraine, and the Holy Land.

First Pope to visit Venice Art Biennial

The Pope had arrived by helicopter, early this morning, in the women's prison on the Giudecca island to visit the Holy See Pavilion of the world-renowned Venice Art Biennial, a major international contemporary art exhibition. This year, the Biennial, which began in 1895, marks its 60th edition.

Pope Francis' visit also marked the first time a Pope has ever visited the event.

With the title ' With my eyes', the Pavilion, designed to remember in a special way human rights and the marginalized, was commissioned by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, and curated by Chiara Paris and Bruno Racine. The Pavilion is housed inside the prison facility, the same prison where Pope St. John Paul II celebrated Mass when he visited Venice in 1985.

Encounters of joy and emotion

Upon Pope Francis' arrival to the prison, he held a moving encounter with detainees, which follows less than a month with his having washed the feet of women prisoners on Holy Thursday at the Rebbibia prison in Rome.

The Pope told the prisoners to always look to the future, to have hope, and that nothing can rob that hope. He also warmly urged them, smiling, to pray for him, before gifting them an icon of the Blessed Mother, reminding them of the exemplary, maternal tenderness of Mary. It was a very emotional encounter, bringing tears to the eyes of many.

Thereafter, Pope Francis met with artists associated with the pavilion, among others, in the prison chapel. After being welcomed by Cardinal Mendonça, he encouraged them in their creativity, as he had done a year ago when addressing artists in the Sistine Chapel.

This visit will be remembered as well for its images. It was quite a scene to see the Pope's transport by patrol boat across the canal during his time in the lagoon city, to the Basilica of Maria della Salute, for the meeting with young people. We even saw him humbly pass through the vaporetto stop, which is the ordinary transit stop for tourists.

There, he encouraged young people from Venice and Veneto to remember how precious they are to God, saying that even when they may feel they do not measure up, that they should try to see themselves as God sees them.

Across the canal

From there, to reach St. Mark's Square, for the day's culminating events, Pope Francis boarded his popemobile across a provisional bridge created upon boats that connected the area of the Santa Maria della Salute to St. Mark's Square. 

In the midst of all this, from what had been somewhat dreary, grey weather, the Holy Father, in time for the Mass, seemed to bring, with him, the sun.

While all this happened in very few hours, the impact and moments of Pope Francis' visit to Venice, surely, will never be forgotten.

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