On May 15th the Holy Father flew back to Rome. He took advantage of his last meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Tell Aviv airport to reiterate the key messages of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He managed to condense his week’s message into a short address of three minutes, encapsulating the gist of the 29 different encounters that he had throughout this action-packed week.

He wasted no time in getting back to the thorny issue of Catholic-Jewish relations, noting first how Christianity had grown out of Judaism. Benedict made reference to the olive tree that he and President Peres had planted together in the garden of the presidential palace earlier in the week.

He drew a parallel to Saint Paul’s use of the olive tree as an image to express how the Christian Church was “grafted onto the cultivated olive tree which is the People of the Covenant.”  He reminded his hearers: “We are nourished from the same spiritual roots. We meet as brothers, brothers who at times in our history have had a tense relationship, but now are firmly committed to building bridges of lasting friendship.”

From there Benedict moved to Monday’s Yad Vashem (Holocaust Memorial) encounter which he called “deeply moving” and went on to evoke the memory of his visit three years earlier to the death camp at Auschwitz “where so many Jews -- mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends -- were brutally exterminated under a godless regime that propagated an ideology of anti-Semitism and hatred.”

To put the final nail in the coffin, especially after his much-criticized lifting of the excommunication of Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson, the Pope stated: “That appalling chapter of history must never be forgotten or denied.”

Benedict called himself a “friend of the Israelis,” as well as “a friend of the Palestinian people” and went on to say that no friend “can fail to weep at the suffering and loss of life that both peoples have endured over the last six decades.”

In the strongest language of his entire visit, Benedict made an impassioned appeal: “No more bloodshed! No more fighting! No more terrorism! No more war! Instead let us break the vicious circle of violence. Let there be lasting peace based on justice, let there be genuine reconciliation and healing.”

Again, to leave no doubts what all this means in practical terms, Benedict declared his intentions in the clearest of terms. First, to those who still dispute Israel’s right to exist as a state, Benedict stated: “Let it be universally recognized that the State of Israel has the right to exist, and to enjoy peace and security within internationally agreed borders.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had requested that the Pope denounce Iran on Israel’s behalf, especially regarding Iran’s repudiation of Israeli statehood. While avoiding mentioning Iran by name, Benedict lost no time in doing just that.

Moving on to the flip side of the relation, he said: “Let it be likewise acknowledged that the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland, to live with dignity and to travel freely. Let the two-state solution become a reality, not remain a dream.”

Returning to a theme that he had broached on Wednesday in Bethlehem, Benedict called the wall separating Palestinians from Israelis “one of the saddest sights for me during my visit to these lands.” Acknowledging “how hard it will be to achieve that goal,” Benedict said that he had prayed, and that Catholics would continue to pray, “for a future in which the peoples of the Holy Land can live together in peace and harmony without the need for such instruments of security and separation.”

For anyone looking for a concise summary of Benedict’s weeklong trip to the Holy Land, and especially the second leg in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Benedict himself provided the material.

Pope Benedict’s goodwill and intentions are evident. It remains to be seen what kind of reception this message will receive in the hearts of his hearers.