Who was right?
(Jerusalem)—As Pope Francis' historic visit to Israel ends, a flurry of photos and stories—some serious and some humorous—continue to detail the pontiff's trip. Among them is an episode on Monday in which the pope and Prime Minister Netanyahu bantered back-and-forth over the language Jesus spoke when He lived on Earth. (Photo via The Blaze)
"Jesus was here, in this land. He spoke Hebrew," said the Israeli Prime Minister, noting the strong bond between the two religions—Judaism and Christianity.
Pope Francis corrected him, saying, "Aramaic."
"He [Jesus] spoke Aramaic," agreed, Netanyahu, "but he knew Hebrew."
As noted in a follow-up Reuters report, Israeli linguistics professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann were both right. "Jesus was a native Aramaic speaker," he said, "but He would have also known Hebrew because there were extant religious writings in Hebrew."
To see a broad series of photos depicting Pope Francis' visit to Israel taken by Israeli reporters, click here.