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Morning News

The Pope in the Holy Land: Pilgrimage Leads Through Cultural, Religious Minefields of Diverse Region

Aired March 22, 2000 - 10:00 a.m. ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II is making a pilgrimage of a lifetime -- Jesus' lifetime. The pope's visit to the Holy Land follows the footsteps of Jesus, while also stepping carefully through the cultural and religious minefields of this diverse region.

CNN's Jim Bittermann explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pope John Paul II began his day flying over the political fractures of the Holy Land, putting down at the site of yet another of its disputes, albeit a small one. The pope, who, Tuesday, blessed a site in Jordan where it's claimed Christ was baptized, Wednesday, blessed a similar site in Israel where the same claim is made. And then after a short helicopter flight, there was more to emphasize the divisions here. Just 10 kilometers or six miles away from where the pope was greeted by the city fathers of Jerusalem, he again went through the pomp of a welcoming ceremony, again by a Middle East leader who claimed Jerusalem to be his capital.

YASSER ARAFAT, PRES., PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): I welcome you as an esteemed guest to Palestine, a guest of our Palestinian people.

BITTERMANN: For the Palestinians, Pope John Paul departed from his strictly personal mission of pilgrimage to make a strong plea to the international community for, quote, "decisive action to improve the situation of the Palestinian people."

POPE JOHN PAUL II: The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian people have the natural right to a homeland and the right to be able to live in peace and tranquillity with the other peoples of this area.

BITTERMANN: It was one of a series of messages during the day which seemed to depart from the pope's intention to avoid political issues on his trip through the Holy Land. But the Vatican spokesman found no inconsistencies.

JOAQUIN NAVARRO-VALLS, VATICAN SPOKESMAN: Certainly these things could be called political aspects of the trip, but at the bottom, they are human and moral aspects of the trip.

BITTERMANN (on camera): In referring to diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel, the spokesman added that it's important to clearly state differences in order to know where friends stand.

(voice-over): But the delicate nature of even having differences in such a cramped and religiously-heated place as the Middle East came through clearly at a papal mass later. With the pope in the middle of the service in Bethlehem's Manger Square, religious leaders at the Mosque on the square delayed their prayers until the pope's homily was finished. But within seconds of the finish of the pope's speech, the Muslims called the faithful to prayer, and this time it was the Christian's turn to wait until the call to prayer was finished.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Bethlehem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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