By Ahmad Khatib | May 08
POPE Benedict XVI arrived in Jordan today on his first visit as pontiff to an Arab state, kicking off an eight-day Holy Land pilgrimage fraught with religious and political challenges.
King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania were waiting to give a red carpet welcome to the pontiff at Amman's Queen Alia airport, where hundreds of Christians, many sporting T-shirts bearing the portraits of the king and the pope, had also gathered.
Jordan's elite royal guard and army forces were posted along the road to the airport, 30 kilometres south of the capital, where the pontiff was later to travel for the first stop on a crowded itinerary, a visit to the Regina Pacis centre for the handicapped in Amman.
The capital itself was festooned with Jordanian and Vatican flags while television stations ran live coverage of the arrival.
Benedict, who has said he is going as a "pilgrim of peace", is to divide his visit between Jordan and Israel, with a stop in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.
But while the pope has described his first trip as pope to the Holy Land as a spiritual pilgrimage, there are also high political and diplomatic stakes.
Some political and religious groups in the region have already made it clear that they expect more than platitudes from the 82-year-old head of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
In Jordan, where Christians number around 200,00 of a total population of about six million, the opposition Islamic Action Front party again said the pope was not welcome unless he apologised for remarks he made in 2006, which they say targeted Islam.
"What we want is a change in his policies, so that it is in harmony with the teachings of Jesus about love, peace, justice, equality and condemnations of crimes and Zionist terrorism," party chief Zaki Bani Rsheid said.
In the speech in question, the pope quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
He subsequently apologised for the "unfortunate misunderstanding".
Bani Rsheid said Muslims were expecting a fresh apology from the pope.
"We will not organise any demonstration to denounce the pope's visit but we stick to our ... demand that the Jordanian government requests his apology," he added.
Jordan's Latin Church has urged Islamists to participate in welcoming the pope, saying they should "not be on the margin of this important event".
Benedict is to pay a courtesy call on the king and queen at their royal palace in Huseinyeh west of the capital later today.
Tomorrow he will follow in the footsteps of John Paul II in 2000 with a stop in Mount Nebo, where the Bible says God showed the Promised Land to Moses.
On Sunday he will celebrate mass at the Amman International Stadium, where he will bless around 2,000 Jordanian children.
The pontiff concludes his visit to the kingdom with a prayer at Wadi Kharrar on the east bank of the River Jordan, where many Christians believe Jesus was baptised, before leaving for Tel Aviv on Monday morning.
Israel too is expected to roll out the red carpet for Benedict, counting on the visit to help rebuild its image following its December-January offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that killed more than 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Jordan's elite royal guard and army forces were posted along the road to the airport, 30 kilometres south of the capital, where the pontiff was later to travel for the first stop on a crowded itinerary, a visit to the Regina Pacis centre for the handicapped in Amman.
The capital itself was festooned with Jordanian and Vatican flags while television stations ran live coverage of the arrival.
Benedict, who has said he is going as a "pilgrim of peace", is to divide his visit between Jordan and Israel, with a stop in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.
But while the pope has described his first trip as pope to the Holy Land as a spiritual pilgrimage, there are also high political and diplomatic stakes.
Some political and religious groups in the region have already made it clear that they expect more than platitudes from the 82-year-old head of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
In Jordan, where Christians number around 200,00 of a total population of about six million, the opposition Islamic Action Front party again said the pope was not welcome unless he apologised for remarks he made in 2006, which they say targeted Islam.
"What we want is a change in his policies, so that it is in harmony with the teachings of Jesus about love, peace, justice, equality and condemnations of crimes and Zionist terrorism," party chief Zaki Bani Rsheid said.
In the speech in question, the pope quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
He subsequently apologised for the "unfortunate misunderstanding".
Bani Rsheid said Muslims were expecting a fresh apology from the pope.
"We will not organise any demonstration to denounce the pope's visit but we stick to our ... demand that the Jordanian government requests his apology," he added.
Jordan's Latin Church has urged Islamists to participate in welcoming the pope, saying they should "not be on the margin of this important event".
Benedict is to pay a courtesy call on the king and queen at their royal palace in Huseinyeh west of the capital later today.
Tomorrow he will follow in the footsteps of John Paul II in 2000 with a stop in Mount Nebo, where the Bible says God showed the Promised Land to Moses.
On Sunday he will celebrate mass at the Amman International Stadium, where he will bless around 2,000 Jordanian children.
The pontiff concludes his visit to the kingdom with a prayer at Wadi Kharrar on the east bank of the River Jordan, where many Christians believe Jesus was baptised, before leaving for Tel Aviv on Monday morning.
Israel too is expected to roll out the red carpet for Benedict, counting on the visit to help rebuild its image following its December-January offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that killed more than 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Source: The Australian
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