Itinerary for papal visit to Holy Land released

The OFFICIAL programme of the pilgrimage of Pope Francis to the Holy Land was released last Thursday. He will visit Jordan, Palestine and Israel, celebrating Mass in all three countries. The visit runs from 24 to 26 May, and commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.

On 24 May, the Pope will visit the King and Queen of Jordan, then Jordanian government leaders. He will celebrate Mass in Amman’s international stadium at 4 p.m., and visit the baptismal site at Bethany beyond the Jordan at 7 p.m., before meeting refugees and disabled young people at the Latin Catholic church.

 On Sunday 25 May he will fly by helicopter to Bethlehem, and at 11 a.m. he will celebrate Mass in Manger Square. He will have lunch with Palestinian families in the Franciscan convent of Casa Nova, then make a private visit to the Grotto of the Nativity. He will then meet refugee children at the Deheisheh refugee camp, before leaving Palestine by helicopter for Tel Aviv. He will then transfer by helicopter to Jerusalem, arriving at 5.15p.m. At 6.15 p.m. he will have a private meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, before an ecumenical meeting at 7 p.m. marking the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. On 26 May at 8.15 a.m. he will visit the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. At 9.10 a.m. he will visit the Western Wall and at 10 a.m. the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

At 5.20 p.m. he will celebrate Mass with the ordinaries of the Holy Land and the papal entourage in the room of the Cenacle in Jerusalem where the Last Supper is reputed to have taken place. At 7.30 p.m. he will ­transfer by helicopter from Mount Scopus to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, departing for Rome at 8.15 p.m.