Pope Francis touches the separation wall on his way to celebrate a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem May 25, 2014.

DETROIT — “Bethlehem looks like the Warsaw ghetto.” The statement was written above where the head of the Catholic Church, the largest religious institution in the world, bowed his head and prayed in silence on Sunday, May 25.

Pope Francis paid a brief visit to the wall that annexes parts of the West Bank and separates it from Israel during a trip to Bethlehem.

The pontiff did not explain the reason for his unscheduled stop at the concrete barrier in the city believed by Christians to be the site of Jesus’ birth. The barrier has been dubbed by Palestinians as “the apartheid wall.” While supporters of Israel have dismissed the stop as a mere call for peace, Palestinian activists labeled it as a political message of support for the Palestinian people.

The Rev. Tony Massad, a priest at the St. Rafka Maronite Catholic Church in Livonia, said the pope’s stop at the wall of separation was a “human message.”

“There are injustices on both sides,” he said. “The pope met with both sides. [The separation wall] is a barrier that is separating people. His message calls into question why there is another obstacle to keep people apart when we should be together learning how to love each other. It is a moment to look and see that we are part of the human family. How is this helping us to become one?”

Lebanese American Businessman Louis Ghafari said although the main purpose of Francis’ trip to Palestine and Israel was religious, the pope did send a political message during the visit.

“The message was: This is the holy land, and it should be open to all faiths,” said Ghafari.

Dr. Nabeel Abraham, the former director of the honors program at Henry Ford Community College, who retired last year, said the pope’s visit “put the wall on the world agenda.”

“The Pope’s visit was epic in that he sent a clear message to Catholics around the world, to world leaders, and to Israelis and their leaders that the plight of the Palestinians is unacceptable,” Abraham said. “By stopping and praying at the wall, he was doing what Ronald Reagan did over three decades ago at the Berlin Wall. The pontiff pointed to Israel’s far bigger and more oppressive wall as emblem of gross violation of the human rights of several million Palestinians.”

Local Palestinian activists Mohammad Abd-Elsalam and Dr. Daad Katato stressed the political nature of the pope’s prayer at the wall in Bethlehem.

“It was a political gesture on a political matter. The pope acknowledged the wall. The moment of silence at the wall means his objection to it,” Abd-Elsalam said. He described the pope’s stop as a “great step.”

“It meant that the wall is an obstacle to peace and should not exist,” said Katato. “It is an apartheid wall to Palestinians. The pope gave a strong message to Israel that he is against racial discrimination. It was a very good move from his side in favor of Palestinians.”

In Palestine, most commentators praised the pope’s gesture. “The pope did not only put his hand on a concrete wall. He put his hand on occupation. He put his hand on (an) apartheid system, on a system of separation, and discrimination, and oppression,” Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestine National Initiative, told CNN.

The 28-foot high concrete barrier stretches hundreds of miles around Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Israel argues that the wall serves a security purpose and its construction has contributed to a drop in suicide bombings since 2003. However, the International Court of Justice, the judicial arm of the United Nations, labeled the wall as illegal according to international law in an advisory opinion in 2004.

“[Israel] is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated, and to repeal or render ineffective forthwith all legislative and regulatory acts relating thereto,” said the court in a statement in 2004. 

The wall has since become a symbol for the Palestinian cause. Graffiti and murals on the wall depict aspects of the Palestinian struggle. The segment of the wall where the pope prayed was covered in graffiti. One bold graffiti on the wall read “Free Palestine.”

The pope made another unscheduled stop in the West Bank, when he visited Dheisheh refugee camp and listened to the concerns of the residents who greeted him with signs urging him to speak up about their situation.

On Sunday, the pontiff invited Palestinian and Israeli presidents Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres to visit the Vatican together to pray for peace. 

“In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with Israeli President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace,” Francis said at a congregation in Bethlehem. “I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai in Jerusalem

Both parties have accepted the invitation and are set to meet in the Vatican on June 8. 

Massad said there was no change in Pope Francis’ approach to peace in the Middle East compared to previous popes.

“The pope has said publicly what previous popes might have said privately,” he said. “Peace and coexistence are something we were always taught in church and in the seminary. Peace has always been the call of the Vatican. It has been calling us to be people of peace and work for peace. Maybe Pope Francis was more vocal in the public sense.”

However, Abraham said, “The current Pope is far more daring and dedicated to the plight of the poor and downtrodden that any of his predecessors, including Pope John Paul.”

Abraham added that Francis’ roots, have had an effect on his approach to the conflict. The pope grew up in Brazil.

“Pope Francis has the added advantage of having come from a Third World society and so has fewer ideological blinders when approaching the issue of Palestine,” he said. “A western bred pope would normally be expected to be indoctrinated in the dominate political attitude that favors Israel and springs from guilt over the Church’s history of anti-Semitism.”

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, the spiritual leader of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, praised Francis’ invitation for dialogue.

“This pope is a very popular pope among Christians,” Elahi said. “When we see that the highest authority in the Catholic church is showing enthusiasm to reach out to Muslims, we have to answer his call with passion and support his call, because that is the best way to bring peace to all communities in the world. The only way to remove ignorance, narrow-mindedness, generalization, violence and terrorism is to reach out for each other and have a logical dialogue.”

However, the imam questioned Israeli leaders commitment to dialogue and peace.

“But I doubt that the people like [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu care about dialogue, out of their arrogance and selfishness and greed,” Elahi said. “They will not participate in the dialogue process.” 

Elahi said the Qur’an and the prophet Mohamad encourage interfaith discourse. He added that his mosque is engaged in outreach efforts to other religious groups. “We are trying to do locally what the pope is doing internationally,” he said.

As for the pope’s invitation for Palestinian and Israeli leaders to meet and pray for peace in the Vatican, Abd-Elsalam said peace requires actions.

“The pope is a religious leader, so he thinks peace can be reached through prayer, but the issue is a lot deeper,” said Abd-Elsalam. “The Vatican should take an official stand against the occupation and call for lifting the siege on the Christian community in Palestine. Christians in the West Bank and Gaza cannot even visit the holy sites in Jerusalem. If prayers solve the problem, it would have been solved a long time ago.” 

Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai accompanied the pope on his trip to the West Bank and Israel. The visit drew criticism from many politicians and media commentators. 

Visiting Israel and communicating with Israelis is banned by the Lebanese constitution. Even foreign travelers who have an Israeli stamp on their passports are not allowed into Lebanon. The patriarch’s critics said the visit promotes “normalization” of the relationship with Israel.

Before the pope embarked on his trip, Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, head of Hizbullah’s political council, visited Rai and told reporters that he spoke with the patriarch about the “negative repercussions” of the visit.

Those defending the visit argue that Rai, who is the head of the Maronite Catholic church, which has followers across the Levant, has a right to connect with his followers wherever they are. The patriarch visited Detroit in May of 2012 and met with both Christian and Muslim leaders. 

Ghafari, who helped organize the Maronite Patriarch’s stay in Detroit,  rejects the description of Rai’s trip to the holy land as a “visit to Israel.” “He was visiting his people in the holy land. By his people I do not mean only Maronites, but people of all faiths in the region,” said Ghafari. “The patriarch has said he considers Israel the occupier of the Palestinian land, but in Lebanon they politicize everything.”

He added that Rai’s critics “have no right to dictate to the patriarch what to do and where to go.”

Much of the criticism to Rai’s visit has come from Lebanese media. Ghafari said the media in Lebanon lack objectivity and reflect the views of the political parties they support.

Rai paid a visit to the families of militiamen who fought along the Israeli armies during its occupation of south Lebanon and fled the country after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000. “Innocence paid the price and you are paying the price because of an international and regional game,” he told the families of ex-soldiers in the South Lebanon Army.

During the trip, Rai visited the Christian village of Kafr Berem in North Israel and urged followers not to sell their land. Kafr Berem’s residents were expelled by the Israeli military in 1949. Rai met the descendants of Kafr Berem’s original inhabitants at the village’s church, which is the only standing structure in the deserted town. “What happened to you is a great injustice,” he told the crowd that rallied to meet him with celebratory chants.

“He is a great leader, always calling for unity and partnership among religions,” said Ghafari, of Rai. “His responsibility is leading by action and telling Christians to stick to their countries and continue the struggle and refuse to be treated as second-degree citizens. The Middle East, and Lebanon especially, will not be the same without the Christian community.”

Ali Jawad, the president of the Lebanese American Heritage Club, said he does not object to Rai’s visit. “The patriarch is a free agent, and he can go anywhere. He was visiting Christian worshipers,” stated Jawad. “We have a lot of respect for him. A free person will remain a free wherever he is.”

Massad said he has not heard “much negativity” about the Maronite patriarch’s visit to Israel. He added that the trip is justified because the Maronite Church has followers there.

“There are Maronites there,” Massad said. “His argument was ‘my people are there, so I should go visit them,’ and I agree with that. If we, as a church, are going to get caught up in politics, I don’t know how we can preach the Gospel,” said the pastor. “He’s the shepherd of the flock, and he should go where his people are. As a priest and a Maronite, I see no problem in the visit.”