John Paul and the Jews: 'A blessing to one another'
During John Paul II’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2000, the frail pontiff visited the Western Wall, the remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple. With quivering hands he placed in a crevice of the wall a piece of paper on which he had written a prayer. His visit to Judaism’s holiest place was one of several acts on a trip that signaled a new era in the church’s relationship with the people John Paul called “elder brothers” in the faith.