VATICAN CITY, FEB 26, 2000 (VIS) - This morning Pope John Paul travelled by plane to St. Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula, the focal point of the first of his Jubilee Year pilgrimages, which are dedicated to those places linked with the history of salvation. He left Cairo International Airport in a C-130 Hercules at 8:40 a.m., local time, travelling the 250 kilometers in just over one hour.
The Holy Father then travelled by car to St. Catherine's monastery where he was welcomed by its abbot, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damianos. The archbishop gave several gifts to the Pope, including a ring which he placed on his right hand.
The Pope, his entourage and the 23 monks of the monastery then paid a private visit to the multi-level church, in particular to the relics of St. Catherine and, behind the main altar, the roots of the "burning bush" where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.
This visit was followed by the Liturgy of the Word which took place in the Garden of Olives outside the walls of the monastery at the foot of Mount Horeb, also known as the Mount of the Ten Commandments. The Liturgy was in Arabic, French and English.
In his homily, given in English, John Paul II said that "today, with great joy and deep emotion, the Bishop of Rome is a pilgrim to Mount Sinai, drawn by this holy mountain which rises like a soaring monument to what God revealed here. Here He revealed His name! Here He gave His Law, the Ten Commandments of the Covenant!"
"Here on Mount Sinai, the truth of 'who God is' became the foundation and guarantee of the Covenant. Moses ... is given the Law (here) 'written with the finger of God'. But what is this Law? It is the Law of life and freedom! ... If the people obey (God's) Law, they will know freedom forever."
"The encounter of God and Moses on this mountain enshrines at the heart of our religion the mystery of liberating obedience," Pope John Paul affirmed. "The Ten Commandments are not an arbitrary imposition of a tyrannical Lord. They were written in stone; but before that, they were written on the human heart as the universal moral law, valid in every time and place. Today, as always, the Ten Words of the Law provide the only true basis for the lives of individuals, societies and nations. Today, as always, they are the only future of the human family. They save man from the destructive force of egoism, hatred and falsehood. They point out all the false gods that draw him into slavery; the love of self to the exclusion of God, the greed for power and pleasure that overturns the order of justice and degrades our human dignity and that of our neighbor."
The Holy Father affirmed that "to keep the Commandments is to be faithful to God, but it is also to be faithful to ourselves, to our true nature and our deepest aspirations."
"The Ten Commandments are the law of freedom; not the freedom to follow our blind passions, but the freedom to love, to choose what is good in every situation."
"In pursuit of this truth, the monks of this monastery pitched their tents in the Sinai," said Pope John Paul II in closing remarks. "Through the centuries, this monastery has been an exceptional meeting place for people belonging to different Churches, traditions and cultures. I pray that in the new millennium the monastery of St. Catherine will be a radiant beacon calling to the Churches to know one another better and to rediscover the importance in the eyes of God of the things that unite us in Christ."
At the end of his visit to St. Catherine's Monastery, the Holy Father returned to Cairo and the apostolic nunciature, where he and his entourage had lunch.
He is scheduled to leave the Egyptian capital at 6:15 local time for the three and a half hour flight to Rome. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt will be at the airport to bid the Pope farewell, as will other civil and religious authorities.
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