The presidents of Israel and Palestine, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas met with Pope Francis and the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomaios of Constantinople at the Vatican to pray for peace between Arabs and Palestinians in the Holy Land. The ecumenical gathering included musical meditations as well as a series of prayers in Hebrew, English, Italian and Aramaic.
First, each representative would give a prayer of thanks for creation, followed by a prayer for pardon for sin against God and fellow man, followed by a third prayer for peace in the Holy Land.
The ecumenical gathering was both ecclesiastical and political. The pope is acting the part of peacemaker in political affairs. This builds papal credibility, influence and power.
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify [himself] in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”