Pope sends Peres an early happy birthday
‘I pray that the Lord who has already blessed you with fourscore years and ten will continue to bless you and keep you,’ pope writes
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleGavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
President Shimon Peres received a letter congratulating him on his 90th birthday from Pope Francis I on Monday.
Peres’s actual birthday is in August, but celebrations begin this week in conjunction with the 2013 Israel Presidential Conference, to be held Tuesday through Thursday in Jerusalem.
The letter alluded to Peres’s Vatican visit in April, during which the two discussed peace talks with the Palestinians and other regional issues.
“I renew my thanks for … our fruitful exchange on a number of matters of common interest to the Holy See and the State of Israel,” the pope wrote.
Peres met with the new pope in the Vatican on April 30, and invited Francis I to visit Israel. “Your arrival will be welcomed with enthusiasm and love by all of the nation’s residents,” he told the pope.
The birthday greetings read in full:
On the happy occasion of your ninetieth birthday, I am pleased to send cordial greetings along with the assurance of my prayers for Your Excellency and for all who share this celebration with you.
I renew my thanks for the kind visit that you paid me at the end of April, and for our fruitful exchange on a number of matters of common interest to the Holy See and the State of Israel.
On this auspicious day, allow me to add my voice to those of many others from around the world who are paying tribute to Your Excellency.
I am reminded of the concluding verse of the ninety-first psalm: “With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation,” (v. 16) and I pray that the Lord who has already blessed you with fourscore years and ten will continue to bless you and keep you, to make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, to lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (cf. nu, 6:24-26).
The Times of Israel Community.