Pope Francis began his three-day tour of the Middle East on Saturday by calling for an end to Syria’s civil war, peace between Israelis and Palestinians and greater tolerance towards Christians in the Middle East.
The pontiff was greeted by some 6,000 people at the airport in Amman, waving Jordanian and Vatican flags and cheering for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The trip will see him visit Israel, the West Bank and Jerusalem on Sunday and Monday.
In a speech to Muslim and Christian leaders at Jordanian King Abdullah’s royal palace in Amman, Francis lamented the wars in the region, especially in Syria, which has been “ravaged by a conflict, which has lasted all too long.”
“This great goal urgently requires that a peaceful solution be found to the crisis in Syria, as well as a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the Pope said in the first speech of his visit to the Holy Land.
Addressing the crisis of a shrinking and sometimes embattled Christian minority in the Middle East, the pontiff urged greater tolerance.
“Religious freedom is in fact a fundamental human right and I cannot fail to express my hope that it will be upheld throughout the Middle East and the entire world,” he said.
“Christians consider themselves, and indeed are, full citizens, and as such they seek, together with their Muslim fellow citizens, to make their own particular contribution to the society in which they live.”
Later on Saturday, the Pope will visit Bethany Beyond the Jordan in the Jordan Valley, the Vatican-recognised site of Jesus’ baptism. He leaves for Bethlehem on Sunday morning.
