Pope plans historic visit to Mount Sinai
by JERUSALEM (JPS) -- Pope John Paul II is slated to visit Mount Sinai in Egypt in early December on the first of two planned visit, Archbishop Damianos, abbot of St. Catherine's, said this would be a historic first visit by a pope. St. Catherine's is a Greek O
| Follow j. on |  |
and |  |
The visit to Iraq and Egypt will precede a projected visit to other sites -- including Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority -- which is unofficially slated for March 24, the date of the Roman Catholic Feast of the Annunciation.
According to Vatican sources in Jerusalem, the Israel visit was not yet made official because of unhappiness over the situation in Nazareth, where Muslims are continuing to demand that a mosque be erected on a plot which the municipality had earmarked for a plaza to be used by Christian pilgrims.
The planned mosque would be only 65 feet from the Basilica of the Annunciation. Catholics have contended that they do not oppose the building of a mosque, but consider it inappropriate to have a large mosque so near the church.
Comments
Be the first to comment!
Leave a Comment
In order to post a comment, you must first log in.
Are you looking for user registration? Or have you forgotten your password?
All