Images, symbols, gestures

"This pope is all about images, symbols and gestures - there's no substance to his speeches," complained a fellow-journalist also covering Pope Francis' pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But that's precisely what makes "the pope from the end of the world" so eloquent and his visit so memorable. The modern world distrusts language, and rightly so: the cant sprouted by public figures and the humbug of populists. When Pope Francis stopped beside Israel's notorious "security barrier" on his way to Manger Square in Bethlehem, walked to the wall, prayed in silence and then reached out and touched the concrete gently - as though touching the foreheads of those who have suffered and continue to suffer in this conflict-ridden region - he also touched the hearts of those who witnessed his gesture as no rhetoric could have done.

A few hours later, he invited Israeli President Simon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to come and pray with him at the Vatican. Many Israelis have responded to this suggestion sceptically. Peres is nearing the end of his presidency and has no mandate to negotiate anyway. It would be easy to dismiss the pope's invitation as an empty gesture, but it's not. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from his right-wing coalition to refuse all contacts with Palestinian leaders. Much to the hard-liners' chagrin, Peres and Abbas have reportedly accepted Pope Francis' invitation. And to pray together is to meet on a level of implicit trust. Cautious trust perhaps. Limited trust. But trust nevertheless.

I do not believe that Pope Francis sees himself as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - at least, not in the political sense. He is simply a man with a big heart that is open to everyone he sees suffering. And he believes that faith and trust are the basis, not the fruit of effective dialogue. In inviting Peres and Abbas to come to Rome, he is saying: "We are brothers. We believe in the same God. Let's start by trusting each other and praying together. And then, if you want to, you can use my home as a neutral setting to talk to each other." Sometimes an image has more substance than words.

It would be easy to dismiss the invitation as naïve, but more sophisticated "road maps" and "diplomatic initiatives" have all failed in the past. Pope Francis' approach is, at the very least, new and imaginative. It rests on the premise that mutual trust is the best basis for dialogue - not the other way round - that practice precedes theory, and that actions are more eloquent than words.