Pope to Visit Holy Land in May

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he would visit the Holy Land from May 8-15 in the first papal trip to the area since 2000.

The visit would be the second official trip by a pope to Israel.

Announcing the dates of the long-planned pilgrimage, the pope said he would go to sites Jesus visited and would pray for "the precious gift of unity and peace for the Middle East and all of humanity."

Benedict told a crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square for the traditional noontime blessing that he was asking the faithful for their spiritual support for the Holy Land pilgrimage and a trip to Africa from March 17-23.

Benedict said the African trip would show "the concrete closeness of myself and of the Church to the Christians and the people of that continent, which is particularly dear to me."

The pope will stop in Cameroon and Angola, meeting with local bishops, Muslim representatives and women's rights advocates.

The pope's Mideast tour will touch Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, with stops in cities including Amman, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, the Vatican said.

Though a detailed program has not yet been announced, officials in destination countries have said they expect Benedict to visit an Amman mosque, hold public Mass in Jordan and Nazareth and make a stop at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

There has been only one other official visit by a pope to the Jewish state, Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage in 2000. Pope Paul VI made an unofficial trip there in 1964.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, who invited Benedict to visit, called the trip "an important and thrilling event of the first order, that emanates a wind of peace and hope."

Benedict's pilgrimage comes at a time of strained relations between Israel and the Holy See.

Israel was offended when senior Vatican Cardinal Renato Martino said during Israel's recent military campaign to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip that Gaza resembled a "big concentration camp."

Ties were further rattled when the German-born pope reinstated an excommunicated bishop who has questioned the extent of the Holocaust. Benedict later condemned the bishop's remarks and spoke out against anti-Semitism.

The two sides are also at odds over the legacy of the wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent the Holocaust.

That dispute centers on a caption of a photo of Pius at Yad Vashem's museum that says he did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely "neutral position." The Vatican says Pius made every effort to help Jews and other victims through quiet diplomacy and wants the caption changed.