Paven ankommet Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II arrived in Amman, Jordan, early in the afternoon of March 20, beginning his long-awaited pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
The Pope's plane arrived at the Amman airport after a four-hour flight from Rome; it was accompanied on the last leg of that flight by an escort of Mirage jets from the Jordanian air force.
At an airport welcoming ceremony, the Holy Father alluded to the involvement of Jordan in the Middle East peace process, saying, «Although it has been difficult because it has been a long time, the search for peace must continue.»
The Pope was greeted by King Abdallah II as he stepped off the plane, and seemed energetic as he walked down a long red carpet to meet other waiting dignitaries, including Queen Rania and members of the Catholic hierarchy and the country's Muslim leadership under a large colored tent.
In his formal remarks, the Pope remarked that «since the beginning of my ministry as Bishop of Rome, I have had a great desire» to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For some months the Holy Father has pointed toward the Jubilee year as the time for that pilgrimage, but in fact at the very beginning of his papacy, in 1978, he expressed the wish that he might sometime be able to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem.
Addressing himself directly to King Abdallah, and saluting both the current king and his father, King Hussein, for their efforts on behalf of peace in the Middle East, the Pope said that all believers-- Christian, Muslim, and Jewish- - should recognize themselves as «one people and one single family.» He added that in the Middle East, «there are serious and urgent questions regarding justice, the rights of peoples and of nations, which must be resolved for the welfare of everyone involved.» The resolution to these problems, he said, is «a condition for a durable peace.»
King Abdallah, in his own remarks, welcomed the Pontiff as «a man of peace» as well as «a believer in God» and «a symbol of all that is pure and noble in this life.» Speaking more explicitly about the peace process, he said that he hoped for a solution that would give hope to the Palestinian people in their desire for justice, while guaranteeing the security of Israel and the stability and integrity of Lebanon. He also mentioned the suffering of the people of Iraq under an American-led embargo.
The Pope, in his talk at the airport, also mentioned the tiny Catholic community in Jordan, which makes up just about 1 percent of the country's population. The leaders of that Catholic community were on hand to welcome him: the Melkite-rite Bishop George El-Murr of Amman, the Latin vicar for Amman, Bishop Selim Sayegh, and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, who is the president of the assembly of Catholic bishops of the Holy Land-- a region which embraces Jordan. The Pope pointed out that the Catholic Church has played an important role in Jordan-- as in the neighboring lands-- in establishing schools, hospitals, and other charitable institutions. In Jordan especially, he said, «your noble tradition of respect for all religions» has helped to further the apostolic mission of the Catholic faith.
As the Pope was traveling to Jordan, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera carried an interview with Queen Rania, who had met the Pontiff during a visit to Rome in September 1999. The queen said that «without a doubt the Pope will touch the hearts of everyone in Jordan, a country that is determined to be a model of religious tolerance.»
Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update