Blessed Paul VI's Apostolic Visit to Jordan
4th & 6th January 1964
Blessed Pope Paul VI was a pilgrim to Jordan at the beginning and end of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, his first apostolic journey on which he also visited Israel and Palestine.
Blessed Pope Paul VI's Address to the King of Jordan
4 January 1964 - in English
"Majesty!
I am most appreciative of your kindness in coming to welcome me personally on my arrival in your Kingdom.
My visit is a spiritual one, a humble pilgrimage to the sacred places made holy by the Birth, the Life, the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, and by His glorious Resurrection and Ascension. At each of these venerable shrines, I shall pray for that peace which Jesus left to His disciples, that peace which the world cannot give, but which comes from the fulfilment of His commandment: to love one another as He loved us (cf Jn 14, 27; 15, 12).
Your Majesty, I know, ardently desires peace and prosperity for your people, and for all the nations of the world; and I, Peter’s Successor, remember his reference to the Psalms in his first Epistle: «He who would love life, and see good days,... let him turn away from evil and do good, let him seek after peace and pursue it» (Ps 23, 13-15). Saint Peter also wrote: «Honour all men; love the brother-hood; fear God; honour the king» (1 Pet 11, 17).
May God grant my prayer, and that of all men of good will, that, living together in harmony and accord, they may help one another in love and justice, and attain to universal peace in true brotherhood."
Blessed Pope Paul VI's Farewell to King Hussein of Jordan
Airport of Amman, Feast of the Epiphany, Monday 6 January 1964 - in English & Spanish
"Salem Aleikum!
The time has come for me to take leave of this blessed land after my unforgettable pilgrimage. I cannot depart without expressing anew and publicly my profound gratitude to Your Majesty and to the civil authorities who have done so much to facilitate my travels and make them fruitful.
Forever in my heart I shall bear the consoling memories of this humble visit to the Holy Places, and of the warm welcome extended to me by the inhabitants of this sacred land. May God reward them, may He wipe away their tears, and grant them peace, prosperity and true happiness.
In the words which the Apostle Paul used to the Christians of Ephesus, in bidding them farewell, I also «commend you to God and to the word of His grace, who is able to build up, and to give the inheritance among all the sanctified» (Act 20, 23). And, as he wrote to the same Ephesians, I exhort you: «Let all bitterness, and wrath, and indignation, and clamor, and reviling, be removed from you, along with all malice. On the contrary, be kind to one another, and merciful, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has generously forgiven you» (Eph 4, 31-32).
And, repeating the apostolic salutation. «Peace be to this land, and to all those who dwell herein», I call down upon you all the richest graces from on high, imparting to you and your loved ones and to all the beloved people of Jordan my particular fatherly Apostolic Blessing. Khatar Kum!"