c. 1999 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Pope John Paul II appears set to visit the Holy Land in late March of next year in what is sure to be the climax of millennial celebrations for millions of Christians around the world.

Roman Catholic Church sources Monday (March 22) confirmed the likely timing of the visit as the president of the Vatican’s Year 2000 committee, Cardinal Roger Etchegary, began a five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority designed to pave the way for the historic event. “The meaning of the (Year 2000) Jubilee for Christians is as a celebration of the birth and life of Jesus in the Holy Land. It’s natural that the pope will want to visit,”Etchegary told reporters after meeting with Israel’s Tourism Minister Moshe Katsav. “The pope has the intention, desire and plans to visit here. The pope’s office will publish the notice at the appropriate time,”Katsav said in an interview broadcast on Israel Television.

Church officials in Jerusalem, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that late March would be the likely target date for the historic pilgrimage. “More or less March 24 is the direction,”said a church official, who asked not to be named.

Wadie Abu Nasser, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarchate, which represents the Middle East branch of the Catholic church, described the planned visit as”one of the biggest events in the history of the Holy Land.” Abu Nasser said the pre-Easter period, which builds to the religious climax of the Christian calendar, would be a natural time for a papal visit. In particular, on March 25, 2000, Catholics around the world will celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, the date on which Christians believe the Angel Gabriel announced the impending birth of the messiah to the Virgin Mary in the town of Nazareth.”Nazareth is to be the center for all universal church celebrations for the Feast of the Annunciation. That’s already noted in the church calendar,”Abu Nasser said.”So it’s an interesting date.” Abu Nasser said the papal visit would have several themes, including the promotion of”peace and justice”in the conflict-ridden Middle East region.

The pope would visit the town of Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem, within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Israeli Arab city of Nazareth and Jerusalem, claimed both by Israelis and Palestinians.

During all three days of his visit, the pope would probably sleep in the residence of the Vatican’s apostolic delegation to Jerusalem, located in East Jerusalem amid the holy sites of the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is the site where many Christians believe the Messiah will return at the end of time.

The pope’s frail health has made some officials hesitant about confirming definite plans for a visit. But church officials here were quick to note that Jerusalem is only about an hour’s flight from Rome _ much nearer than Mexico City or St. Louis, which John Paul visited earlier this year.”The pope is very active despite his health _ and the Holy Land is not very far away from Rome,”said Abu Nasser.

The pope’s arrival is expected to trigger a flood of pilgrims. Some church sources say as many as 4 million Catholics can be expected to visit during the millennial year. Many will come before or after a pilgrimage to Rome, a package tour the Vatican is promoting for the millennial year.

Most of those pilgrims will be coming from Latin America, Europe and Africa, not the United States, said Rabbi David Rosen, an Israeli member of an Israeli-Vatican bilateral commission.

Rosen said a large Catholic presence for Year 2000 festivities will probably have a moderating impact on potential outbursts of millennial fervor among more extreme groups of evangelical Christians who might visit here expecting to witness a supernatural event like the return of Jesus. “The vast majority of millennial pilgrims are going to be Catholics who are coming from Europe, Africa and Latin America,”Rosen said.”These Catholics are not being led to believe that the Year 2000 is a literal date or that there are any special messianic expectations at this point in time.”They are coming because Pope John Paul II is a master of the use of symbolism and anniversaries, and he has invested this date with meaning, as a moment to rally the ranks and project the image of the church.” Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority are feverishly upgrading their infrastructures for a papal visit. But officials on both sides are worried about the potential for major bottlenecks at two holy sites which are revered particularly by Catholics.

Those sites include Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe Jesus was buried, and Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, revered as the place of Jesus’ birth. The two sites currently accommodate only 750,000 to 1 million pilgrims a year.

IR END FLETCHER