Pope John Paul II said today Muslims and Christians need "to offer each other forgiveness" for all the times they "have offended one another," and never more be regarded as being in conflict.
"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 an address on a historic visit to the Omayyad mosque in Damascus - the first ever to a Muslim place of worship by a pope.
"It is my ardent hope that Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will present our two great religious communities as communities in respectful dialogue, never more as communities in conflict," he said.
Earlier, the Pope hammered home his message of inter-religious harmony in Damascus, calling for understanding, respect and peace among Christians, Muslims and Jews in the troubled Middle East, ahead of a historic visit to a mosque.
"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 when the legitimate rights of all peoples are respected and they can live in peace and mutual understanding," he said.
His sermon at an open-air high mass at the Abbassyin stadium here on the second day of his visit to Syria was based on the role of Saint Paul, who was converted from a persecutor of Christians to a leading apostle of the faith on his way to Damascus.
The pope called on the people of the region to "continue tirelessly your efforts to build a society marked by fraternity, justice and solidarity, where everyone's human dignity and fundamental rights are recognised."
His reference to the Jews, whom his Syrian hosts are only referring to in the context of the enemy Israel, came after his calls for Christian unity and closer ties between Christians and Muslims.
The congregation of some 45,000 inside the stadium, plus thousands more gathered outside, included faithful from all parts of the old patriarchate of Antioch, which includes Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and beyond.Clergy of other Christian rites and Muslims were present at the mass, reflecting the theme of closer ties within the Christian communion and with Islam.
But the leader of Lebanon's Maronite Catholics, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, who is at odds with the Syrian authorities over the presence of 35,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon, is boycotting the pope's visit.
The pope, who has already included Greece and will take in Malta on Tuesday, following in the footsteps of Saint Paul, went on to the Greek Catholic patriarchate of Damascus for lunch.
Furthering his attempts to heal a thousand-year rift between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, he was scheduled later to visit the Syrian Orthodox cathedral of Damascus to meet with clergy and laity of both denominations before going to the Omayyad mosque.
The first-ever papal visit to a Muslim place of worship was called an "historic gesture" today by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
"Over 2,000 years of Christianity no pope has ever entered a mosque, a place sacred to Islam," he told journalists.
"The gesture is historic but also for the future, as it represents a major step in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims," he said.
"It is a way of overcoming obstacles; the pope has been hoping for a long time to be able to have a direct meeting," he continued.
He stressed the desire of the pope to "focus on what unites the three monotheistic religions, all three daughers of Abraham," recalling that in 1986 John Paul was the first pope to enter a synagogue.
AFP