Itinerary of Pope’s visit to the Holy Land announced

March 27, 2014: The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Fuad Twal, has announced a detailed itinerary of the Ecumenical and Pastoral visit of Pope Francis to The Holy Land in the last week of May. This was announced at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem’s old city, on Thursday.

His programme beginning May 24, includes a formal courtesy visits to the King and Queen of Jordan, a Mass at the International Stadium in Amman and a visit to the Baptism Site at Bethany. The highlight however would be his meeting with the refugees and young people with disabilities in the Latin Church in Bethany beyond the Jordan.

The following day at Bethlehem, he will meet the president of the state of Palestine, and later will preside over a Holy Mass in the Manger Square in Bethlehem, with a lunch with Palestinian families. This will be followed by a visit to children of refugee camps.

In Jerusalem on Mount Scopus, he will have a private meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem, and an ecumenical meeting on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.

On the May 26, Pope Francis is slated to visit the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and later two Chief Rabbis in the center Heichal Shlomo, near the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. He will then visit the President of the State of Israel at the presidential palace in Jerusalem.

The itinerary also includes a private visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in the building in front of the Orthodox Church of Viri Galileai on the Mount of Olives. This will be followed by a meeting with priests, religious and seminarians in the church of Gethsemane near the Garden of Olives and a Mass with the faithful of the Holy Land.