Sunday Times 2
Pope to start delicate Middle East trip in Jordan
View(s):AMMAN, May 24 (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrives in Jordan today to start an intense three-day trip to the Middle East, bringing hope to the dwindling Christian population and an appeal to members of all religions to work together for peace.
“This is not a protocol visit,” Patriarch Louis Sako, Iraq’s senior Churchman, told reporters in Amman on the eve of the visit.
“This pope feels the pain of Christians and his arrival at this time as peoples of this region are going through conflict, killings and destruction is a message of common living. It’s an appeal that everyone in this region should have the courage to review their positions, to get out of this suffocating crisis,” he said.
The Christian population has been declining steadily across the Middle East for generations. The Arab revolts of the recent years, the civil war in Syria, and the rise of radical Islam are only accelerating the process.
In Israel and the occupied West Bank, more Palestinian Christians are looking to leave, blaming Israel for withering their economic prospects and hobbling their freedom of movement. “We are waiting impatiently for a word of peace from the pope that will raise morale. People in the street are asking what message will the pope carry,” Sako said.
It is the first visit to the region by Francis, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
After meeting King Abdullah and saying a Mass in an Amman stadium, the pontiff will meet refugees from Syria and Iraq in Bethany on the Jordan, the place where according to tradition Jesus was baptised.
On Sunday morning Francis flies by helicopter to Bethlehem, making a six-hour visit to what the Vatican’s official programme calls “the State of Palestine,” a terminology Israel rejects.
In 2012, the Vatican angered Israel by supporting a vote in the United Nations General Assembly to give Palestinians de facto statehood recognition. Israel argues such a move should nly come through negotiations.