This week, Pope Benedict XVI continued an eight-day journey to the Holy Land, visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and saying the suffering of Jews under the Nazi extermination campaign must "never be denied, belittled or forgotten."

The pope called the Holocaust an atrocity that disgraced mankind, and said the church is committed to working tirelessly "to ensure that hatred will never reign in the hearts of men again."

With his head bowed and his hands folded, the 82-year-old pope prayed silently May 11 before an eternal flame in the Hall of Remembrance, a stone monument to the 6 million Jews killed in World War II. He stood in the tent-shaped structure, where the names of some of the Nazi death camps are inscribed in the floor, as a prayer was recited for the victims, the resistance fighters and those who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis.

The visit to Yad Vashem came halfway through his Holy Land pilgrimage that began in Jordan, the 82-year-old pontiff's first trip to an Arab country. He set the tone of his visit when he arrived at Amman's airport May 8, saying he had come as a Christian pilgrim and expressing his "deep respect" for the Muslim community.

As King Abdullah II stood at his side, the pope commended Jordan for curbing extremism, protecting religious liberty and promoting "a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam." He paid special tribute to interfaith dialogue initiatives launched by Jordanian leaders.

In a wider message to the troubled region, he insisted that religious values must have a decisive role in the societies of the Middle East, especially when it comes to healing divisions and promoting peace.

In Amman, the pope visited the Regina Pacis center, a church-run facility for the disabled to underscored the charitable role played by Jordan's minority Christian population in cooperation with Muslims. The following day, the pope visited the King Hussein Mosque in Amman, pausing briefly in what the Vatican called "respectful meditation in a place where numerous people also pray and meditate before God."

The pope traveled May 9 to Mount Nebo, the place where Moses glimpsed the Promised Land before dying. From a windswept promontory, he looked out over a biblical panorama that stretched from the Dead Sea to Jericho across the Jordan River, with the hills of Jerusalem in the far distance.

At a papal Mass May 10 in an Amman soccer stadium, the pope preached as a simple pastor, recognizing the spiritual and material struggle of Christian families in the land where the church was born.

The liturgy coincided with the close of the year of the family in the Holy Land, and the pope made a point of thanking the many women in the region who have found "courageous ways" to protect families and build peace.

Later in the day the pope made his way to the Jordan River, where archeologists believe they have identified the site of Jesus' baptism by St. John the Baptist. He blessed the foundation stones of two Catholic churches --- one Latin rite, the other Melkite rite --- to be built at the location and said the new construction was a hopeful sign for a Christian community that goes back to the church's beginnings.

---CNS