{"id":23258,"date":"2014-05-30T12:03:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T16:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=23258"},"modified":"2014-05-30T16:49:07","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T20:49:07","slug":"may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/","title":{"rendered":" Pope Middle East Trip Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Pope Francis made a brief yet momentous visit to the Middle East May 24-26. The primary purpose of the trip was to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as well as a range of other religious leaders, and to support the dwindling Christian population in the region. But along the way he also visited Yad Vashem, the Western Wall, the Jordan River, and the Dome of the Rock, and he made an unplanned stop at the security wall that surrounds the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Perhaps the pope\u2019s most dramatic call for peace was his unexpected invitation to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to pray with him at the Vatican.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pope Francis visited sacred sites recognized by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, including the Western Wall. He met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and a range of other religious leaders, made unexpected stops at a terror memorial and at the separation wall that surrounds the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and he inserted himself into the peace process with a surprise invitation to a prayer summit at the Vatican. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/\" class=\"more\">More <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":23263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6569],"tags":[17778,10425,10767,1967,1393,6863,8789,17777,1389,11054,17776,4932],"class_list":["post-23258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videocast","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-church-of-the-holy-sepulchre","tag-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i","tag-holy-land","tag-israel","tag-jesus-christ","tag-jordan-river","tag-mahmoud-abbas","tag-palestine","tag-pope-francis-i","tag-shimon-peres","tag-western-wall","topics-international","topics-religious-leaders","faith-catholic","faith-jewish","faith-muslim"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>May 30, 2014 ~ Pope Middle East Trip Report | May 30, 2014 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"His brief but historic pilgrimage for peace was highlighted by some surprise images and an unexpected invitation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"May 30, 2014 ~ Pope Middle East Trip Report | May 30, 2014 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"His brief but historic pilgrimage for peace was highlighted by some surprise images and an unexpected invitation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-30T16:03:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-30T20:49:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2014\/05\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anton Vidale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anton Vidale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anton Vidale\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7934894dc9327c3417d742be58518a35\"},\"headline\":\"Pope Middle East Trip Report\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-30T16:03:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-30T20:49:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":121,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Benjamin Netanyahu\",\"Church of the Holy Sepulchre\",\"Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I\",\"Holy Land\",\"Israel\",\"Jesus Christ\",\"Jordan River\",\"Mahmoud Abbas\",\"Palestine\",\"Pope Francis\",\"Shimon Peres\",\"Western Wall\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Videocast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/\",\"name\":\"May 30, 2014 ~ Pope Middle East Trip Report | May 30, 2014 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-30T16:03:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-30T20:49:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7934894dc9327c3417d742be58518a35\"},\"description\":\"His brief but historic pilgrimage for peace was highlighted by some surprise images and an unexpected invitation.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/30\\\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\\\/23258\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly\",\"description\":\"An examination of religion&#039;s role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/search-results\\\/?q={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7934894dc9327c3417d742be58518a35\",\"name\":\"Anton Vidale\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/author\\\/vidalea\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"May 30, 2014 ~ Pope Middle East Trip Report | May 30, 2014 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","description":"His brief but historic pilgrimage for peace was highlighted by some surprise images and an unexpected invitation.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"May 30, 2014 ~ Pope Middle East Trip Report | May 30, 2014 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","og_description":"His brief but historic pilgrimage for peace was highlighted by some surprise images and an unexpected invitation.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/","og_site_name":"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/","article_published_time":"2014-05-30T16:03:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-30T20:49:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2014\/05\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anton Vidale","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionEthics","twitter_site":"@ReligionEthics","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anton Vidale","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/"},"author":{"name":"Anton Vidale","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/7934894dc9327c3417d742be58518a35"},"headline":"Pope Middle East Trip Report","datePublished":"2014-05-30T16:03:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-30T20:49:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/"},"wordCount":121,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2014\/05\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg","keywords":["Benjamin Netanyahu","Church of the Holy Sepulchre","Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I","Holy Land","Israel","Jesus Christ","Jordan River","Mahmoud Abbas","Palestine","Pope Francis","Shimon Peres","Western Wall"],"articleSection":["Videocast"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/","name":"May 30, 2014 ~ Pope Middle East Trip Report | May 30, 2014 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2014\/05\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg","datePublished":"2014-05-30T16:03:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-30T20:49:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/7934894dc9327c3417d742be58518a35"},"description":"His brief but historic pilgrimage for peace was highlighted by some surprise images and an unexpected invitation.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2014\/05\/30\/may-30-2014-pope-middle-east-trip-report\/23258\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2014\/05\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2014\/05\/Mideast-Trip-Report-v1-FEAT.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/","name":"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly","description":"An examination of religion&#039;s role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/search-results\/?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/7934894dc9327c3417d742be58518a35","name":"Anton Vidale","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/author\/vidalea\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}