Israelis and Arabs alike have sent get-well messages to Pope John Paul II, who entered a Rome hospital Sunday evening for tests and possible surgery for an intestinal ailment.
“I was sorry to learn of your hospitalization,” wrote Avi Pazner, Israel’s ambassador to Italy. “I send you my warmest wishes for good health and hope that you will quickly resume your full activities.”
King Hussein of Jordan sent flowers, and the Palestine Liberation Organization sent a similar message.
“I sent to the pope, a man of peace who has always recognized the rights of all peoples, not only those of the Palestinians, the best wishes of the Palestinian community and of the general PLO delegation in Italy,” said Nemmer Ahmadi, the PLO representative in Rome.
In his nearly 14 years as pope, John Paul has had a high profile both in Catholic-Jewish dialogue and in Middle East affairs.
In 1985, he took the unprecedented step of visiting the main synagogue in Rome, and he has met many times with Jewish leaders and has spoken out forcefully against anti-Semitism.
Under his leadership, Jewish-Catholic dialogue has broadened and deepened. Despite a number of crises, both Jewish and Catholic observers agree that the momentum of the dialogue would be hard to stop.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
