JERUSALEM (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI concluded a Holy Land pilgrimage infused with hope but dogged by controversy on Friday (May 15) with a visit to the church where Christians believe Jesus was buried after his crucifixion.

Stopping at the venerable Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Benedict prayed that the dwindling Christian community in the Holy Land “will always draw strength from the empty tomb of the Savior.”

The large stone church, which was built in the 4th century, is shared by several Christian denominations that sometimes clash over jurisdiction. In a show of respect, the heads of the different churches greeted the pope at the entrance of the church, whose locked doors were opened by the Muslim man who safeguards the church’s keys.

“Sent out into the world …we shall find the strength to redouble our efforts to perfect our communion, to make it complete, to bear united witness to the love of the Father who sends the Son so that the world may know his love for us,” the pope said.

The vast majority of the city’s indigenous Christians live in East Jerusalem, which was under Jordanian rule until 1967. Though ethnically Palestinian, they nonetheless enjoy all the social benefits afforded Israeli citizens, even though most have not accepted Israeli citizenship.

In a message directed at Israeli authorities, the pope asked that “the aspirations” of Jerusalem’s Christians, “whatever their religion,” be respected: “a life of religious freedom and peaceful coexistence” and “unimpeded access to education and employment.”

At a farewell ceremony at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, the pope said it had been “deeply moving” to meet Holocaust survivors at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. The encounter, he said, brought back memories of his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp three years ago.

The German-born pope reiterated that the Holocaust “must never be forgotten or denied,” but did not say, as many Israelis had hoped, that the wartime church could have done more to resist the Nazis and save Jewish lives.

Mindful of the resentment his visit generated among some Israelis, who were angered by his endorsement of a Palestinian homeland and lack of an apology at Yad Vashem, the pope told Israeli President Shimon Peres that “I want to put on the record that I came to visit this country as a friend of the Israelis, just as I am a friend of the Palestinian people.”