Pope’s Western Wall note leaked to press

The pope wrote out the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish on a note that he left between the ancient stones of the Western Wall during his visit to Jerusalem earlier this week. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation published the contents of his handwritten note on Thursday.

The text of the letter pulled from the wall is the Spanish translation of the Pater Noster, one the central prayers in Christianity:

“Padre nuestro que estás en el Cielo. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will, be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us our daily bread. Forgive us for all our trespasses as we forgive all those who trespass against us and and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” the pope wrote in cursive Spanish on papal letterhead. It was signed Francis.

The Pope’s handwritten note that he placed in the Western Wall. (photo credit: Western Wall Heritage Foundation)

The pope placed the note in the wall during his visit to Jerusalem on Monday. The custom of putting written supplications to God between the stones of the Western Wall dates back centuries.

The pope arrived in Israel on Sunday as part of a brief visit to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel. Francis visited religious sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, made a stop at the West Bank security barrier, paid a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Theodor Herzl’s grave and an Israeli memorial to victims of terrorism, met with political leaders, and invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to pray with him at the Vatican next month.