He made his a appeal at a
solemn mass in St Peter's Basilica ending a two week Vatican summit of
bishops from the Middle East, whose final document criticized Israel and
urged the Jewish state to end its occupation of Palestinian
territories.
In his sermon at the
gathering's ceremonial end, the pope said freedom of religion was "one
of the fundamental human rights that each state should always respect."
He
said that while some states in the Middle East allowed freedom of
belief, "the space given to the freedom to practice religion is often
quite limited."
At least 3.5
million Christians of all denominations live in the Gulf Arab region,
the birthplace of Islam and home to some of the most conservative Arab
Muslim societies in the world.
The
freedom to practice Christianity -- or any religion other than Islam --
is not always a given in the Gulf and varies from country to country. Saudi Arabia, which applies an austere form of Sunni Islam, has by far the tightest restrictions.
The
Pope said all citizens in Middle Eastern countries would benefit from
greater freedom of religion and backed a call by the synod participants
for Muslims and Christians to open an "urgent and useful" dialogue on
the thorny issue.
In Saudi Arabia,
home to Islam's holiest sites, any form of non-Muslim worship takes
place in private.
Converting Muslims is punishable by death, although
such sentences are rare.
Services
and prayer meetings often are held in diplomats' homes, but access to
these is very limited, so Christians meet to worship in hotel conference
rooms -- at great risk.
PEACE WILL STOP CHRISTIAN EXODUS
Trying
to bring about a Middle East peace with a two-state solution was a main
theme of the synod participants and the pope took up their plea in his
homily.
"Peace is possible. Peace
is urgent. Peace is an indispensable condition for a life worthy of the
human person and of society. Peace is also the best remedy to avoid
immigration from the Middle East," he said.
In
its concluding message, issued on Saturday after two weeks of meetings,
the synod said Israel cannot use the biblical concept of a promised
land or a chosen people to justify new settlements in Jerusalem or
territorial claims.
Many Jewish
settlers and right-wing Israelis claim a biblical birthright to the
occupied West Bank, which they call Judea and Samaria and regard as a
part of historical, ancient Israel given to the Jews by God.
In
a response, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said
theological disputes over the interpretation of the holy scriptures
disappeared with the Middle Ages, adding: "It doesn't seem like a wise
move to revive them."