Fr. Lombardi SJ: Pope's trip to Israel confirmed

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, confirmed on Friday that the scheduled visit of Pope Francis to Israel is to go ahead as planned. A statement from the Press Office Director earlier in the day relates that the the visit of Pope Francis to the Holy Land, scheduled May 24 to 26, remains as announced by the Holy See. Responding to stories that appeared in the Israeli press regarding a supposed cancellation of the visit due to a labour dispute in the Israeli Foreign Ministry that would have made preparing for the visit impossible, Fr. Lombardi, SJ said that the strikes, still in progress, ould create difficulties in the preparation of the visit, but that - for now - everything is on schedule.