BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has finished his eight-day pilgrimage to the Middle East, calling for an end to fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.
At a farewell ceremony, attended by Israeli leaders, he called for "no more bloodshed, no more fighting".
He said the Holocaust "must never be forgotten or denied".
Israeli President Shimon Peres thanked him for his visit, calling it a "profound demonstration of the enduring dialogue" between Christians and Jews.
He particularly highlighted the Pope's statement about the Holocaust never being denied, saying it carried "substantive and special weight".
"It touched our hearts and minds."
The Pope, in reply, described the "powerful impressions" he had gathered during his visit.
Meeting Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem was "one of the most solemn moments" for him.
"Those deeply moving encounters brought back memories of my visit three years ago to the death camp at Auschwitz, where so many Jews - mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends - were brutally exterminated under a godless regime."
The "appalling chapter of history must never be forgotten or denied", he said. >>> | Friday, May 15, 2009
