Pope Benedict Visits Jerusalem's Holy Sites

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday visited two of the key religious sites of Islam and Judaism: Jerusalem's Temple Mount and the Western Wall. On the pope's second day of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he also had separate meetings with both Muslim and Jewish leaders. His visit has revealed just how delicate a political minefield the Holy Land can be for the pope. Steve Inskeep talks with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli about reaction to the pope's visit.

Steve Inskeep: The pope visited the Holocaust Museum on Monday, and did so after some tense relations between the Vatican and Jews.

Sylvia Poggioli: In fact, the reactions are a huge disappointment. Many Israelis point out that Benedict never mentioned Germany or Nazis, or even used the word "murder." Several commentators stressed that the pope had missed a historic opportunity to make an apology for the Catholic Church's behavior during the war.

One of the most biting comments was by the historian Tom Segev in the daily Haaretz. He wrote that what the pope said about the Holocaust sounded too calculated, too diplomatic and professional. [The pope] advised compassion, Segev said — a prescription that is to priests what aspirin is to general practitioners.

The pope also attended an interfaith meeting [Monday] night; what happened?

A leading Palestinian cleric, Taysir Tamimi, who is the chief justice of the Palestinian Islamic courts, commandeered a microphone and, speaking in Arabic, unleashed a 10-minute diatribe against Israel, accusing it of war crimes against Palestinians and calling on Muslims and Christians to unite against Israel.

Tamimi had not been scheduled to speak. In fact, only the pope was supposed to address the participants, who were rabbis, Muslim clerics and Christian prelates. While Tamimi was on his tirade, we could see the pope and his Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone looking at each other kind of chuckling, but they were clearly ill at ease. The meeting was cut short, skipping the ritual exchange of gifts, although the Israeli media reported that Benedict shook Timimi's hand before being ushered out by the papal entourage. The Vatican spokesman condemned the incident and said he hoped it would not damage the pope's mission aimed at promoting peace and interreligious dialogue. But it was clearly very embarrassing for everybody present.

What happened when there was a little more interreligious dialogue [Tuesday]? The pope met with Muslim and Jewish clerics.

We don't know how the visit to the Dome of the Rock went, nor did we hear the pope's speech to the Grand Mufti, who has responsibility over the Islamic sites in Jerusalem, because here at the press center [in Jerusalem], we were told that Islamic religious authorities refused to allow a live broadcast of the visit.

But from his prepared text, I can tell you that Benedict spoke to the Grand Mufti of the shared roots of Christianity and Islam, which both recognize the prophet Abraham as their forefather. We did hear the pope's speech to the rabbis. He spoke of a theme dear to him, which is a grand alliance of the three monotheistic religions against what he sees as the march of secularism in the West. Benedict spoke of moral relativism and the offenses it spawns against the dignity of the human person.