Pope Benedict XVI left Rome on Friday for a week-long pilgrimage to the Holy land which will first take him to Jordan and then Israel and Bethlehem, in the Palestinian Territories.
The pope will be met on his arrival in Amman by Jordan's King Abdallah II and Queen Rania.
During his mid-week audience on Wednesday, the pope said he would be ''a pilgrim of peace'' in his upcoming trip to the Holy Land.
Benedict's trip will be the second official visit by a pope to Israel following a 2000 visit by his predecessor John Paul II, who established full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1993.
Before Israel was officially recognised as a country by the Vatican, Pope Paul VI also made a flying visit there in 1964 but avoided sites of Jewish significance.
While in Israel the pope will visit the Yad Vashem Shoah memorial to Jews murdered by Germany's Nazi regime.
However, Benedict will not visit the adjacent museum, which contains a caption accusing the wartime Pope Pius XII of failing to speak out about the Nazi extermination of Jews.
The Vatican disputes the claim that Pius did not do enough to help the Jews and the issue remains a volatile one between Israel and Rome, especially in light of efforts to have Pius proclaimed a saint.
Pope John Paul II visited Yad Vashem in 2000 but the Pius caption was not an issue because it only appeared five years later when a new museum was unveiled.
Travelling with the pontiff are Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation of Eastern Churches; Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Unity Among Christians and Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with Jews; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; and master of ceremonies Msgr. Guido Marini.
THE POPE'S ITINERARY.
On Saturday, May 9, the pope will visit Mount Nebo, 40 km south of Amman, where the Bible says Moses was given a view of the Promised Land, before returning to the Jordanian capital to meet Muslim leaders at the King Hussein Mosque.
The next day Benedict will celebrate Sunday Mass at Amman's International Stadium and travel to the banks of the River Jordan, where Jesus is believed to have been baptised.
After flying to Tel Aviv on Monday, May 11, the pontiff will meet Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem before visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site.
Tuesday, May 12, will see Benedict become the the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to enter a mosque in Jerusalem when he visits the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount, where he will also meet the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
The 7th-century mosque is one of the oldest extant Islamic buildings in the world and houses a rock in which the Prophet Muhammad is thought to have left his footprint as he ascended to heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel.
The pope will then visit the chief rabbis of Jerusalem before celebrating Mass in the Josafat Valley.
Benedict will then travel to Bethlehem on May 13, where he will visit the Grotto of the Nativity and a refugee camp before meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
On May 14, the pope heads for Nazareth, where he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visit the Grotto of the Annunciation.
Benedict will then visit the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on May 15 before transferring to Tel Aviv and flying back to Rome.
