Ambassador says Pope Benedict calls Israeli trip 'a priority'

Published: 2005-07-07

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Responding to a formal invitation by Israel's prime minister to visit the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI said he "would love to go" and that a visit there would be "a priority," said Israel's ambassador to the Holy See. Ambassador Oded Ben-Hur was part of a small delegation of Israeli officials that presented the pope July 6 with a letter from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon inviting the pontiff to Israel. The ambassador told Catholic News Service that the pope received the invitation "with joy." "The pope said, 'I would love to go. I would be delighted,'" Ben-Hur said July 7. Although the pope told the group that his schedule was very tight, a visit to Israel was "a priority," he also told them. Ben-Hur, Dalia Itzik, Israel's communications minister, and Israel Maimon, government secretary, visited Pope Benedict July 6 shortly before the pope's weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

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