President Peres welcomes heads of Churches for New Year

As is customary each year, on December 31, 2012, President Shimon Peres welcomed the heads of the Christian communities to his residence to wish them well in this season of Christmas and the Gregorian New Year and to share his hopes for 2013. All the heads of the Churches were present, the Latin Patriarch and his vicars (including Father David, who represented the Hebrew speaking communities), the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and a number of bishops, the Franciscan Custos and a delegation of Franciscans, the heads of the other Catholic, Eastern and Protestant communities, many superiors and Israeli ministry officials, police personnel and others who deal with the Christian communities.

The reception began with a rendition of a modern Ave Maria by a young Christian Arab woman from Acre, Lena Makhoul, in English.

President Peres shared his vision of the general situation with the Church leaders, dwelling on his dream of peace and equality in Israel. He insisted that all desire peace and that peace is the goal. He stressed his admiration of Pope Benedict XVI and declared that he agreed with the Holy Father’s vision that peace is more than the end product of a human process. God must help us.

After a Christmas carol in Arabic, “Leilat al-Milad” sund by Lena Makhoul, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III spoke in the name of the gathered Christian religious leaders. He thanked the President for his cordiality and especially for his strong condemnation of religious bigotry and the attacks against places of worship by Jewish extremists. While thanking the Israeli administration for the many services it offers Christians, he also asked for increased sensitivity to the Christians, especially with regard to access to the Holy Places (for Christians in the Palestinian territories) and visas for clergy.

The event was marked by great cordiality. All shared the hope that 2013 would see greater moves towards peace in the region.