Sunday May 6 2:53 PM ET
Pope Makes History in Mosque, Preaches Forgiveness

By Philip Pullella

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Pope John Paul took off his shoes and entered a mosque Sunday, becoming the first Pontiff in history to visit and pray in a Muslim place of worship.

The Pope used the occasion to urge Christians and Muslims to forgive each other for the past, but in reply he heard a tirade against Israel by the Syria's most senior Muslim leader.

Speaking inside the Great Umayyad Mosque, a splendid testimonial to Syrian history, the weary-looking Pontiff said religious conviction was never a justification for violence.

``Nevermore communities in conflict,'' he said in the mosque, which contains a memorial to St. John the Baptist. Outside lies the tomb of Saladin, who drove the Crusaders from the East.

At perhaps the most poignant point of the visit, the Pope, wearing white cloth slippers, was told by a guide: ``Now Holy Father, we will leave you alone with God so you can pray.''

The delegation took a step backward as the Pope leaned with one hand against the monument and one on his cane in silent contemplation and prayer.

The Pontiff, who revolutionized ties with the Jews by visiting Rome's synagogue in 1985, said it was now time to turn the page with Islam too.

``For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness,'' he said in his address to Muslim leaders, including the Grand Mufti of Syria.

``Better mutual understanding will surely lead...to a new way of presenting our two religions, not in opposition as has happened too often in the past, but in partnership for the good of the
human family.''

Mufti Denounces Israel

In contrast to the Pope's plea, Syria's highest religious leader, Mufti Ahmad Kaftaro, used his speech to make the latest in a series of attacks against Israel.

Kaftaro urged ``the Catholic church all over the world with his holiness the Pope at its head and the Christian governments of the West to stand in support of justice and put pressure on Israel by every means to curb its atrocious aggression.

``I believe that this is the least that Christianity, as a proof of its allegiance to Jesus Christ, can offer the world.''

His words jarred with the Pontiff's theme of mutual forgiveness, begun Friday in Greece, where he sought God's pardon for the wrongs committed by Catholics against the Orthodox faithful in the past 1,000 years.

There was a clear sense that history was being made as the Pope, helped by an Arabic interpreter, spoke in the vast white marble courtyard of the mosque, one of the greatest treasures of Islamic art.

The site began as a pagan temple, was converted to a church for St. John the Baptist after Christianity became the Roman Empire's religion in the 4th century and became a mosque after the Arabs conquered Damascus in 639.

Seizing the moment's grandeur and solemnity, the 80-year-old Pope, who looked very tired at the end of a long day, included a pressing appeal against religious fundamentalism from any side.

``It is crucial for the young to be taught the ways of respect and understanding, so they will not be led to misuse religion itself to promote or justify hatred and violence.

``Violence destroys the image of the Creator and should never be considered as the fruit of religious conviction,'' he said.

Call For Peace

The Pope has also used his visit to Syria to make several ringing calls for Middle East peace and a return to dialogue.

At a Sunday mass, he urged Christians, Muslims and Jews to take bold action to bring about peace in their region.

Although the official purpose of the visit is a religious one -- following in the footsteps of St. Paul the Apostle -- Middle East war and peace has been an unavoidable theme for the Pope.

``In this holy land, Christians, Muslims and Jews are called to work together with confidence and boldness and to work to bring about without delay the day...,'' he said at a mass for some
50,000 people, many of them Orthodox Christians.

Despite the Pope's appeal, Syria and Israel attacked each other in statements that showed once again that peace between the two longtime foes remains distant.

Israeli President Moshe Katzav called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an ``anti-Semite and racist'' for telling the Pope that Jews had betrayed Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad.

Outraged by Assad's fiery comments Saturday, Katzav urged the Vatican to respond. Assad enraged Israelis last month by saying that Israeli society was ``more racist than the Nazis.''

The Pope did not respond to Assad's speech but his spokesman said the position of the Holy See against anti-semitism was well known and had been stated clearly in the past.

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