King Abdullah II of Jordan has expressed the hope that Pope Benedict XVI's visit to his country this weekend will help accelerate efforts towards peace in the Middle East. "The visit comes at the right time," the king told Italy's state television, RAI, on Monday evening just days before the Pope's departure yesterday for Amman.
The visit to Jordan is the first leg of a politically and religiously sensitive eight-day pilgrimage that includes numerous events and speeches in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
King Abdullah told the Milan paper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday: "The words he will say will be a stimulus, directed to all of us, to spur us on more quickly towards peace."
His comments came as the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) conference in Washington that peace with the Arab world was a priority for him.
Addressing Aipac from Jerusalem ahead of visits to Egypt and Washington, he said: "We want peace with the Arab world, but we also want peace with the Palestinians. I believe it's possible to achieve, but I think it requires a fresh approach."
King Abdullah, 47, was to welcome Pope Benedict to Jordan early yesterday at Amman's international airport and the two men were to hold talks later that day at the royal palace.
But the Pope's first order of business on what is his first papal visit to an Arab country was to visit the church-run Regina Pacis centre for disabled persons. He was to give a highly anticipated speech this morning to Muslim religious leaders and the international diplomatic corps after visiting the Al-Hussein Mosque.
Before that the Pope was to visit Mount Nebo, from which tradition says Moses viewed the Promised Land.
And before leaving for Israel on Monday he was to bless the cornerstones of at least three Catholic structures - a new university in Madaba, some 20 miles outside Amman and two churches in Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan near the spot where Jesus is believed to have been baptised.
The Vatican's press director, Fr Federico Lombardi, said by blessing the cornerstones the Pope hoped to encourage the country's small Christian community to continue to grow and contribute to society.
The figures are varied, but according to officials Christians make up 2.5 per cent of the country's nearly six million people.
Pope Benedict was to celebrate Sunday Mass in the same sports stadium in Amman that was the venue for a liturgy Pope John Paul II celebrated in 2000.
"I am going as a pilgrim of peace in the name of the one God who is father of all," the Pope said at last Sunday's Regina Coeli in St Peter's Square. "I want to confirm and encourage the Christians of the Holy Land who daily must face not a few difficulties," he said.
Pope Benedict will travel to Israel on Monday where President Shimon Peres also hoped his presence would bear fruits of peace. "This is a moving and important event that transmits a message of peace and hope," the president said back in March when the visit was officially announced.
However, Israel and the Holy See have been locked in negotiations since 1993 over still-unresolved church property, taxes and personnel issues.
Mr Peres caused controversy at home last week when he said Israel should relinquish control of six Christian holy sites to the Vatican. Israel army radio reported that the president had urged the Government to give up control of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Cenacle - the traditional site of the Last Supper and Pentecost - in Jerusalem, Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, also in Jerusalem, and the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes on the Sea of Galilee.
Israel's foreign minister and its minister of tourism immediately rejected the idea.
Meanwhile it has been announced that Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who has criticised the Pope in favour of maintaining good relations with the Jewish community, is to accompany Pope Benedict on his visit.
Archbishop Zollitsch, president of the German bishops' conference, said before leaving: "We are very grateful that the Holy Father will firmly underline our closeness to the Jewish people in Jerusalem."
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