Published 16:33 07.05.09
Latest update 16:34 07.05.09

Highlights of pope's Holy Land tour

A look at the main events scheduled for Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to the Holy Land.

By The Associated Press Tags: Pope Benedict Israel news Vatican

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May 8: Arrives from Rome at Jordan's Queen Alia airport in Amman. Benedict will visit a Christian religious center and go to the royal palace to meet King Abdullah and Queen Rania.

May 9: Celebrates a private Mass in the Chapel of the Apostolic Nunciature of Amman. Benedict will then visit an ancient basilica on Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have first seen the promised land. He later meets with Muslim religious leaders, diplomats and university officials in front of Al-Hussein bin Talal mosque in Amman. He will hold evening prayers at the Greek-Melkite Cathedral of Saint-Georges.

May 10: Celebrates Mass at Amman International Stadium and then has lunch with patriarchs and bishops. In the evening, Benedict will visit the site of Christ's baptism at Bethany beyond the Jordan and bless the foundation stones of Latin and Greek Melkite churches.

May 11: Celebrates private Mass in the Chapel of the Apostolic Nunciature of Amman. Benedict leaves Queen Alia airport for Jerusalem in the morning following a farewell ceremony.

May 11: Arrives from Jordan at Israel's Ben Gurion airport where a full state welcoming ceremony will be hosted by President Shimon Peres. In the evening, Benedict will visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

May 12: Visits the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock - key Jewish and Muslim shrines in the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Also in the Old City, Benedict will visit the traditional site of Jesus' last supper with his 12 apostles on the eve of his crucifixion. He will also attend Mass in the nearby Garden of Gethsemane, where the gospels say Christ and his disciples spent the night in prayer.

May 13: Visits a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem and then celebrates Mass outside the Church of the Nativity, the site where Jesus is traditionally believed to have been born.

May 14: Visits Jesus' childhood hometown of Nazareth and celebrates an open-air Mass at the nearby Mount Precipice, where tradition says an angry mob tried to throw Jesus to his death after he preached in a Nazareth synagogue.

The Pope will later visit the Church of the Annunciation where he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then pray in the Grotto, where the faithful believe the archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would conceive the child Jesus.

May 15: Benedict ends his Holy Land trip with a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which tradition says marks the sites where Jesus was crucified and entombed.