Mideast Adversaries Touched by John Paul II

How the Pope Healed Rifts With Both Jews and Muslims

One of Pope John Paul II's most striking accomplishments was his ability to transcend the conventional wisdom of war and politics that "the friend of my enemy is my enemy"

On Monday, Israel's most popular newspaper Yedioth Ahronot hailed John Paul II as "a true friend" of the Jewish state, the day after a spokesman for the Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad lamented his death as "a great loss" to the Palestinian cause.

The sworn enemies could both praise the pope because his appeal was neither rhetorical nor contradictory. International online commentary shows that the late pontiff gained respect with both Muslims and Jews by acknowledging the Catholic Church's historical offenses against both. At the same time he won admiration by expressing sympathy for the deepest insecurities of both peoples. The pope did not reconcile the differences between Palestinians and Jews, but he identified justice on both sides.

"Muslims Hail Pope's Efforts to Promote Ties," declared the lead headline in the government-supported Iran Daily.

"The Pope, the first to officially set foot in a mosque, during a visit to Syria in 2001, led a campaign over the past two decades to help turn conflict into cooperation between the world's 1.1 billion Catholics and 1.2 billion Muslims," reported the Tehran news site sympathetic to the country's reform movement.

The same tone prevailed in Bangladesh, where The Independent said that John Paul's May 2001 visit to a Syrian mosque "turned a page in inter-religious harmony."

"For the first time in history a Pope entered a mosque and called upon the Christians and Muslims to forgive each other for what occurred in the past. The setting, the vicinity of the tomb of Saladin, the hero of the crusade wars, lent a further significance to the Pope's call," said the newspaper.

John Paul II's similar gestures toward Jews were welcomed in Israel, according to Haaretz. "From his first visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1979 to his visit to Israel in 2000 -- during which he asked forgiveness at Yad Vashem [the Holocaust memorial] and put a note in the Western Wall -- the 26 years of his papacy were full of efforts to effect a major reform" in the relationship between Jews and Christians, said the liberal daily.

Pope John Paul II prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in March 2000, a gesture that made him popular in Israel. (AP)

"He was the first pope to visit a synagogue, when he prayed at the Great Synagogue in Rome in 1986; in a speech in 1997 he said that Christians had failed during the Holocaust; during his visit to Israel, he apologized for the behavior of Christians who had caused the Jews to suffer; and he coined the term 'elder brothers' to describe the Jews."

At the same time, John Paul II gave voice to the political fears of both sides. For Muslims who worry the United States has targeted Islam since September 11, 2001, the pope's opposition to the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was praised by the Daily Star in Bangladesh. Pakistan's Dawn said John Paul II "will be remembered for rejecting the idea of a new anti-Muslim crusade implied by President Bush in one of his early post-9/11 speeches."

For Palestinians who feel they do not get a fair hearing from Western leaders, the pontiff's embrace of their dream of nationhood was especially welcome, according to the Palestinian Media Center. The official online news outlet of the Palestinian National Authority recalled John Paul's visit to the Holy Land in March 2000 where he led Mass in Bethlehem.

Palestinian children greet Pope John Paul II and Yasser Arafat at the Daheisha refugee camp in March 2000. During the landmark visit, the pope pleaded for world leaders to end the plight of stateless Palestinians. (Andre Durand -- AFP)

"Peace for the Palestinian people! Peace for all the peoples of the region!" the Pope began, according to the PMC. "No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people have had to suffer in recent decades. Your torment is before the eyes of the world. And it has gone on too long. The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian people have the natural right to a homeland, and the right to be able to live in peace and tranquility with the other people of this area," he said.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, a potent bloc in Palestinian politics, still remember his words, according to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency.

"His Holiness remarkable pilgrimage to the Holy Land and his support for the Palestinian right for self determination are source of proud and strength to us," the prisoners wrote in a condolence letter to the Vatican.

To be sure, John Paul II had critics. On Monday, Iran's hard-line press "denounced pope John Paul II for his efforts to reconcile with the Jewish people, saying Israel should be seen as an enemy of the church and not just the Islamic republic," according to IranMania, a London-based news site.

"Not only did the pope never condemn the crimes of the 'Zionist regime' in the territories, the Vatican officially recognised its existence," the fundamentalist Jomhuri Islami newspaper complained.

Likewise, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post lamented John Paul II's opposition to the Iraq war and his sympathy for the Palestinians by describing him as "The Pope Who Loved Too Much."

But most online observers in the Middle East are not holding John Paul's surplus of love against him.