The Memorial Sanctuary on Mount Nebo, where Moses saw the Promised Land before his death, has reopened.
The site has been closed for a decade so it could be renovated.
Speaking for Pope Francis at the reopening, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, said the site’s religious art shows the way people “celebrate their faith and leave a sign of it for future generations.”
He went on to say culture and art are important because “… they express the nobility of the soul of man of every age.
“Let us endeavor to commit ourselves to its preservation, especially when it expresses the tending of the human heart towards the Absolute.”
He said the Pope “intends to pay tribute to the importance of this symbolic place, which serves as a crossroads of dialogue and encounter for the three great monotheistic religions, all of which were born in this beloved Middle East.”’
Despite the wars since Jordan gained custody of the Holy Land in 1932, Sandri said intense work over the years has found “the historical and spiritual treasures that this place holds, and which today are returned to Jordan and to humanity …”.
He went on to note the Kingdom of Jordan (which almost extends to Mount Nebo) has in recent years become “… a place of welcome, hospitality and healing for thousands of refugees and exiles from the suffering lands of Palestine, Syria and Iraq.”
The shrine is a place “of healing for souls and bodies, and a place of refuge for all who come here from every part, afflicted in soul and burdened by all manner of bodily suffering,” Cardinal Sandri.
Source
- CNA
- Image: Rafat Taiseer
