c. 1998 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Quiet preparations are being made for a visit by Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land in the year 2000, although a final decision on the matter will depend on the state of the peace process over the coming year, sources here close to the Vatican said on Wednesday.

The sources, speaking one day after the Vatican’s top foreign affairs specialist, Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran rebuked Israel over its rule of East Jerusalem, noted that the pope has been keeping his calendar clear for a possible Holy Land visit. John Paul has long expressed his desire to visit the Holy Land during the millennial year.”I think he will come in the year 2000 _ I tell you that as a private opinion,”said one source close to the Vatican, who asked to remain anonymous.”He is keeping his calendar clear, but a final decision still depends on the peace process.” The recent Palestinian-Israel interim peace agreement at Wye Plantation in Wye Mills, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C., has boosted optimism about the possibilities for a papal visit, the sources said. But they said the question now is how the agreement will be implemented on the ground, where it is meeting fierce opposition from both Israeli and Palestinian militants. “The pope is very eager to pay a visit to the Holy Land, especially in the case of the great Jubilee, in the year 2000. There are two obstacles _ the health of the pope and the health of the peace process,”said one source within the Latin Church Patriarchate, which is appointed by Rome to oversee the local Catholic church. “The pope doesn’t want his visit to be a source of more hatred; he wants it to be a source of more reconciliation, love and peace. If the health of the peace process will improve, then so will the health of the pope,”the source said.

Rabbi David Rosen, a member of the permanent bilateral commission between Israel and the Holy See said he, too, is optimistic about the possibility of a papal visit, but believes the final decision will depend more on John Paul’s health than on the political circumstances.”I think he will come in the millennium _ either 1999 or 2000 _ if his health permits,”said Rosen, referring to the 78 year-old prelate’s history of health problems over the decade.”For the Vatican’s secretariat of state, the politics are important,”added Rosen.”For the pope, the millennium is something that transcends local politics.” Four years ago, the pope declared the year 2000 would be a”Jubilee Year”in which the Vatican and the Holy Land would be the preferred destinations for religious pilgrims.

Within both Israeli and Palestinian official circles, reactions to a possible papal visit are decidedly mixed.

On the one hand, Israel will regard the papal visit as the climax of the reconciliation process that led to the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1993. But a papal visit to Jerusalem’s Old City holy sites will undoubtedly stir up political tensions because the Vatican regards the area as under Israeli military occupation and Israel regards it as sovereign territory.

For the Palestinians, on the other hand, a papal visit to Bethlehem, now under the Palestinian Authority’s control, would enhance the authority’s political prestige, and boost millennium-related tourism to Jesus’ birthplace.

But Palestinians also worry the papal visit might be seen as a Vatican endorsement of the political status quo. And the very overt displays of Christian fervor sure to accompany the papal visit might also pose security problems, ruffling the feathers of radical Islamic factions within the West Bank who are already at odds with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

DEA END FLETCHER