OFFICIAL PHOTO EXHIBIT’S PREMIERE SHOWING IN HOUSTON

OFFICIAL PHOTO EXHIBIT’S PREMIERE

  • Karen Naumann
     
    ​CONSULATE GENERAL OF ISRAEL TO THE SOUTHWEST AND THE ARCHDIOCESE OF GALVESTON-HOUSTON CO-HOSTED A CEREMONY TO MARK THE OPENING OF AN OFFICIAL PHOTO EXHIBIT’S PREMIERE SHOWING IN HOUSTON.



    PHOTO: Onhand for the ceremong (L to R) Msgr. William L. "Bill" Young, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church pastor; Consul Daniel Agranov, Israel Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest United States; and Bishop-elect Brendan Cahill, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Clegry Formation and Chaplaincy Services director.​
     
  • Ceremony

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    ​The Houston-based Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest the United States and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston formally marked the opening of an exclusive photo exhibit of His Holiness Pope Francis visiting Israel.


  • Exhibit

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    ​The photo exhibit highlights His Holiness Pope Francis’ historic visit to Israel in 2014. The images were captured by an official photographer of the Israeli government who had virtually unrestricted access to the time Pope Francis spent with former President of Israel Shimon Peres; Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, as well as leaders of the Muslim and Jewish faiths. The encounters occur among some of the holiest Jewish and Christian sites.
  • Highlights from the Exhibit

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    ​ Pope Francis exchanging warm greetings with former Israel Pres. Shimon Peres.

     Pope Francis is also photographed praying alone and with Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where they kneeled together before the Stone of the Anointing.

     Pope Francis is pictured on the Temple Mount and praying at the Western Wall.

     At the Western Wall, he is affectionately and simultaneously greeted by Rabbi Skorka and Imam Dr. Aboud.

     Prime Minister Netanyahu was with Pope Francis when he laid a wreath on the grave of Zionist Visionary Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl and visited a Memorial to Victims of Terrorism on Mt. Herzl.
  • Transcript of Consul Agranov's Presentation

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    Dear friends, Bishop-elect Cahill, Monsignor Young, Principal Sears and of course -- you the future builders and leaders of this wonderful community, city, state and, maybe, all world.

    First of all, I want to use this opportunity to greet Bishop-elect Cahill for his nomination as Bishop of Victoria by Pope Francis.

    Today, I am proud to open the photo exhibition of great man and great leader Pope Francis and his visit to Israel. You will see the Pope meeting with our leaders, representatives of different religions and all of this accompanied by the wonderful historic sites of the Holy Land.

    His visit to Israel was an opportunity to show the world the true Israel; the advanced, modern and tolerant Israel. In effect, the only country in the Middle East that ensures complete freedom of worship to those of all faiths, guards the holy places and ensures the rights of all – Jews, Muslims, Christians alike to live in peace and equality in the only Jewish state.

    As we live together with Arabs of Israel, and yes, 20% of Israeli’s are Arabs from different faiths; we are willing and want to make peace with our Palestinian neighbors. I believe that if they will abandon the way of violence and will recognize our right to exist, as did and still do, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan; this would be enough to pave the way to peace and we together will bring peace in the Holy Land.

    As you maybe now our region is in great turmoil – Arab Spring, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and others threatening the integrity of the Middle East. But, I must say that although this is a big challenge to Israel, to our region and to all our western civilization now after 67 years of independence (and we celebrated our 67 Independence Day just couple of weeks ago) we have a strong state, a vibrant economy and a democratic, healthy society.

    There is a lot that we need to fix in Israel, but there is nothing, and I am really excited to say it, there is nothing that can change our way of life. We will continue to be the beacon of hope and example of democracy and coexistence to all.

    I want to use this opportunity to address you, kids, the real problem and the biggest threat to the world as we know it, in my opinion, is indifference.  What I see a lot in my work are people who are not interested in anything; people that don’t care. I hope that you will never be indifferent. I hope you will choose to be active in your life –in college, in the work place, in your family and in your community. Be passionate about things you believe in, not only when it is connected to Catholicism or Israel, about anything and everything. Don’t be afraid people highly value activism and activists.

    On a personal note, I want to mention that my work as an Israeli diplomat from the beginning was connected to the Holy See. My first assignment was to assist with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel in 2009. I still have this pin as a reminder.  I'm very happy that now in a way we are together as part of another great Pope -  Pope Francis’ visit to Israel.

    It looks like there is a unique connection between Israel, The Holy See and Houston, not only by me and this exhibition, but also our previous Consul General here in Houston, Zion Evrony, who now is the Ambassador of Israel to the Holy See. So, in a way, we now together continue this unique connection and I hope there will be more opportunities in the future and the connection between Israel and the Holy See and Israel and Houston, Texas will only become stronger and stronger.

    May God Bless you and Shabbat Shalom to you all!​