Rome - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday morning departed Rome for a week-long trip to the Middle East, with stops scheduled in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Benedict, on board an Alitalia Airbus passenger jet, left Rome's Fiumicino airport early Friday morning and was scheduled to arrive at Amman, Jordan's Queen Alia international airport following a four hour-long flight.
Benedict's trip marks the third by a modern-era pontiff to the Holy Land following visits by Pope Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 2000.
The Vatican had described the Benedict's voyage as a non- political, religious pilgrimage, during which he is scheduled to visit sites holy to Christians, including Jesus' birthplace, Bethlehem.
Benedict's also aims to "bring hope for peace in the region, with respect for the rights of all its peoples," on the eve of his departurethe Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said with reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Benedict's schedule includes meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman, Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, and finally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Pope's tour of Nazareth, in northern Israel.
The 82-year-old spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics will also try to improve relations with Muslims and Jews.
On Saturday, he is scheduled to meet Muslim clerics at Amman's Al- Hussein Bin-Talal Mosque.
Jordan's Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought has spearheaded efforts to avoid tensions and misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians, including those triggered by Benedict in a 2006 speech in which he appeared to associate Islam with violence.
On Monday, May 10, in Jerusalem, Benedict is scheduled to pay his respects at the Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem - a visit that comes a just a few months after a row over the pontiff's reinstatement of four renegade traditionalist Catholic bishops, including a Holocaust- denier.
