Pope John Paul II will begin a week-long pilgrimage to the Holy Land next Monday, visiting Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. His visit has raised the expectations of Jews, Christians and Muslims who are engaged in inter-faith dialogue, as well as raising the political hopes of Palestinians and Israelis seeking to move forward in the Middle East peace process.
For Christians throughout the world, in these Lenten days of preparation for Easter, there is deep significance in the Pope's visit to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus; to Nazareth, his childhood home, and in the Mass on Sunday, March 26th, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of Jesus's burial and resurrection. For many Palestinians, the Pope's visit to Arab East Jerusalem and to Bethlehem is a political blessing, drawing attention to their claims and the plight of refugees throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But, undoubtedly, most attention will concentrate on the Pope's time in Jerusalem, where he will meet Israeli political and religious leaders, visit Yad Vashem, the main memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and pray at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.
The visit to the Western Wall is expected to crown Pope John Paul's attempts to improve Catholic-Jewish relations. No Pope has done as much for Catholic-Jewish reconciliation. Relations have come so far in recent decades it seems strange to recall that only 40 years ago the Good Friday liturgy still included a prayer for the "perfidious Jews". Shortly after his election in 1979, the Pope visited Auschwitz. In 1986, he became the first Pope to preach in a Jewish synagogue, calling Jews "our beloved elder brothers". And in 1994, the Vatican formally established diplomatic relations with Israel.
Next week's visit is a significant development, according to a former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Dr David Rosen. And the visit comes immediately after the Pope's moving plea for forgiveness in Rome last Sunday, when he issued a remarkable request for forgiveness for the many past sins of the Church, including its treatment of Jews, "heretics", minorities and women. Sunday's confession marked a milestone. But some Jews have expressed disappointment that the Pope did not specifically mention the behaviour of Catholics during the Holocaust. When the Pope visits Yad Vashem on Thursday, there may be some who will ask the simple but haunting question: would such a monument have been necessary if Pope Pius XII had done more to oppose Hitler's persecution of the Jews?
Before he visits Yad Vashem, the Pope is due to meet the Polish-born Israeli Chief Rabbi, Dr Meir Lau, who, as a small boy, survived Buchenwald, where both his parents had been killed by the Nazis. Dr Lau hopes the Pope will make amends at Yad Vashem and go further than last Sunday's confession with a more specific apology relating to the Holocaust. The Jubilee has been a major theme of the millennium for the Pope. The Biblical concept of Jubilee includes cancelling past debts so those who were once burdened can move into the future with freedom. A fuller apology at Yad Vashem would be liberating for both Jews and Christians.