Around 5:00 p.m. the president delivered a speech that focused on how the Jewish nation survived the Holocaust, and said "All of us: Jews, Christians, Muslims, all people of faith, recognize, that, today's challenge is not the separation of religion and state, but the uncompromising separation of religion from violence."
Pope Benedict then took to the podium and spoke of peace as "a divine gift," a gift that God wishes to give to those who seek him with all their hearts.
"To the religious leaders present this afternoon, I wish to say that the particular contribution of religions to the quest for peace lies primarily in the wholehearted, united search for God."
"Ours is the task of proclaiming and witnessing that the Almighty is present and knowable even when he seems hidden from our sight, that he acts in our world for our good, and that a society’s future is marked with hope when it resonates in harmony with his divine order. It is God’s dynamic presence that draws hearts together and ensures unity," the Pope said.
This means, the Pope pointed out, that religious leaders must be mindful of division or tension within their flock, since "any division or tension, any tendency to introversion or suspicion among believers or between our communities, can easily lead to a contradiction which obscures the Almighty’s oneness, betrays our unity, and contradicts the One who reveals himself as 'abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness'."
Turning to the idea of security, Pope Benedict drew upon the Hebrew understanding of the concept in Scripture. Security, or batah, "arises from trust and refers not just to the absence of threat but also to the sentiment of calmness and confidence," Benedict explained.