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Morning News

Pope John Paul II Arrives in Amman, Begins First Papal Visit to Holy Land in 35 years

Aired March 20, 2000 - 9:07 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II arrived in Amman, Jordan, about two hours ago, this to begin the first papal visit to the Holy Land in 35 years.

For more on the political and religious significance of the pilgrimage, CNN's Jerrold Kessel now live from Mount Nebo in Jordan -- Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, the first stage of this historic papal journey to the Holy Land, a personal pilgrimage, the Vatican says. And here, in this monastery atop of a spectacular site, atop the Madre Mountains and monastery, which is named after Moses, because by the biblical tradition, it was here that Moses was allowed by God to get a glimpse of the Promise Land just before he died, although he never was allowed to enter the Promise Land, according to the biblical narrative.

And here, the pope had decided this will be the first stage, the first stop off on his own personal pilgrimage, as he came from Jordan, will go across to the Israel and to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

But inside here, inside this monastery, the pope has been reading from chapters in the book of Deuteronomy, referring to that narrative about the Moses' death, and been giving blessings. And he also engaged in a moment of contemplation and private prayer.

This will be a very dramatic and somewhat hazardous pilgrimage, as he tries to encounter some of the difficulties of the current Middle East situation and the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians, each vying for a certain degree of attention from the Vatican.

And -- even though it was called all along by the Vatican "a personal pilgrimage," above all, the pope himself after a very warm welcoming ceremony hosted by King Abdullah II, he made a point of a reference of making -- stressing the aspect of the peace making in the Middle East at the moment, saying that it needs to flourish, it needed to flourish, and he would do everything he could to help promote that atmosphere.

He said, however, that in order to flourish, peace needed to be based on justice and on mutual understanding and cooperation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE JOHN PAUL II: Building a future of peace requires an all- the-more mature understanding and their most rapid cooperation among the peoples who acknowledge their one, true indivisible God that created their world that exists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: And now, this first stage on the pope's pilgrimage to the Holy Land coming to an end here in the monastery on Mount Nebo. And the pope will be making his way back to the Jordanian capital, Amman. He will have a meeting with King Abdullah tomorrow, a mass in the main football stadium in Amman. And after that, he begins the main part of his pilgrimage to Israel and to the Palestinian territories, a week-long journey in the footsteps of Moses and, of course, of Jesus.

I'm Jerrold Kessel, CNN, reporting live from Mount Nebo in Jordan.

HEMMER: All right, Jerrold, thank you.

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