JERUSALEM (JTA) — Pope Benedict XVI placed a handwritten personal prayer seeking peace in the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
His note, placed between the stones during Tuesday morning’s brief visit, asked God to "send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family," according to a text released from the Office of the Holy See.
Following quiet reflection at the wall, the pope made a courtesy visit at the compound to the chief rabbis of Israel.
Prior to visiting the wall, the pope visited the grand mufti of Jerusalem.
Later Tuesday, the Pope celebrated Mass outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem in the valley of the Kidron, at the site where Jesus is said to have prayed the night before he was crucified.
Hundreds of people lined up to see the pontiff make his way to the site of the Mass in his bulletproof Popemobile.
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