Pope confirms he plans to visit the Holy Land in May
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Meeting American Jewish leaders who were on their way to Israel, Pope Benedict XVI announced Feb. 12 that he, too, was preparing to visit the Holy Land.
A papal trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories had appeared to be set for May 8-15 until plans seemed shaken by the late-December escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and along the Israeli border with Gaza.
The situation has calmed down and the pope told members of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, "I, too, am preparing to visit Israel, a land which is holy for Christians as well as Jews, since the roots of our faith are to be found there."
Alan Solow, chairman of the conference, told the pope during the audience: "We welcome and appreciate Your Holiness' planned visit to Israel. The people and leaders of Israel are anxiously looking forward to it, as are we."
After the Jewish leaders told reporters the trip definitely was back on the papal schedule, a Vatican official confirmed it, although he declined to provide details.
Rabbi David Rosen, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee and a consultant on interreligious affairs for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, told reporters that he knew from his own contacts that concrete preparations are being made for a May visit.
The rabbi said that after the uproar over the lifting of the excommunication of traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, a Holocaust denier, "It is very important for the pope to visit Israel. I think it will be the most dramatic demonstration of his comments" expressed to the Jewish leaders Feb. 12 and publicly in late January that Holocaust denial is unacceptable and anti-Semitism is a sin.
"From that point of view, it is good for the church, good for the Jewish people and good for the state of Israel" that the pope visit, Rabbi Rosen said.
"In my own personal exchange with Pope Benedict XVI today, I said that I'm looking forward to seeing him in Jerusalem and he said, 'I am looking forward very much to coming and I hope that my visit will be a sign of peace ... and would help peace in the region."
Pope to visit Africa in March to help prepare for October synod
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI announced that he plans to make his first trip to Africa next March, visiting Cameroon and Angola.
The pope will make the trip to help prepare for the Synod of Bishops on Africa, scheduled for October 2009, and to mark the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of Angola.
He announced the trip Oct. 26 at a closing Mass for the Synod of Bishops on the Bible. When he repeated the announcement shortly afterward to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, a wave of applause swept through the crowd.
Sub-Saharan Africa has not hosted a pope since 1998, when Pope John Paul II visited Nigeria.
Pope Benedict said his intention was to meet with representatives from African bishops' conferences in Cameroon and hand-deliver the African synod's "instrumentum laboris," or working document.
The Synod of Bishops will be the second for Africa and is scheduled to take place in Rome. The theme is "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace."
The first African synod took place at the Vatican in 1994. Ten years later, Pope John Paul said another synod would be held to allow church leaders to address the continent's changing religious, demographic, social and political scenes.
Pope Benedict said he would go from Cameroon to Angola, where he will celebrate the 500th anniversary of that country's evangelization. The Angolan church has been marking different stages of the 500th anniversary for many years, beginning with Pope John Paul's visit there in 1992.
Exact dates for Pope Benedict's trip have not been released. The Vatican's advance team was in Africa in mid-October to firm up preparations.
Pope Benedict has made 10 foreign trips since his election in 2005. So far, the African trip is the only one on his calendar for 2009.
