c. 2000 Religion News Service

BETHLEHEM, WesT Bank _ Pope John Paul II, carrying his Holy Land pilgrimage to the Autonomous Palestinian Territories on Wednesday (March 22), celebrated Mass in Bethlehem, the place where Christians believe Jesus was born 2,000 years ago, and deplored the present day “torment” of the Palestinian people.

“Peace for the Palestinian people! Peace for all the peoples of the region!” the pope declared. “No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people have had to suffer in recent decades. Your torment is before the eyes of the world. And it has gone on too long.”

The Roman Catholic pontiff spoke at a welcoming ceremony in the official residence of Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat where he shook hands with scores of Palestinian dignitaries, Orthodox priests and Muslim and Protestant clerics.

Later in the day, John Paul later made a brief visit to the Deheisheh refugee camp run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Again sitting next to a beaming Arafat, this time in the crowded

courtyard of a school, the pope heard speakers warn that there can be no

peace in the Middle East until Palestinian refugees, displaced persons and emigrees are granted”the right of return.” According to UNRWA, a total of 3,308,133 Palestinians live in 69

refugee camps scattered through the Middle East, some of them dating to

the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Tens of thousands of

others have emigrated throughout the Middle East and to other parts of

the world.

The”right of return”is a key issue in the negotiations that

Palestinians and Israelis resumed in Washington Tuesday (March 21) in an

effort to reach the comprehensive settlement that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has pledged by September.”It is deeply significant that here, close to Bethlehem, I am meeting with you, refugees and displaced persons,”the pope said.”Probably the pastors, the shepherds of Bethlehem were your predecessors, your

ancestors.” The pontiff called for a”resolute effort”to resolve the plight of the

refugees.”I appeal to political leaders to implement agreements already arrived

at and to go forward to the peace for which all reasonable men and women

yearn and the justice to which they have an unalienable right,”he said.”The church and her social and charitable agencies will continue to be at your side, will continue to plead your case before the world,”the pope said.”God bless all of you.”

Earlier, thousands of Palestinians applauded the pope and cried, “Viva il papa,” at a Mass celebrated in gray and windy weather in Manger Square outside the 6th century Basilica of the Nativity, which stands above the grotto where Jesus was believed to have been born.

“Because it is always Christmas in Bethlehem, every day is Christmas in the hearts of Christians,” the pope said.

In a message with special relevance to the small Christian minority in Bethlehem and throughout the Holy Land, the pope quoted from the Gospel of Matthew, saying, “Today from Manger Square, we cry out to every time and place and to every person, `Peace be with you! Do not be afraid!”

The pontiff also offered “the holy kiss to the Christians of the other churches and ecclesial communities” present, greeted the Muslim community of Bethlehem and prayed “for a new era of understanding and cooperation of all the peoples of the Holy Land.”

John Paul has made his strong commitment to ecumenical and interfaith dialogue a theme of his pilgrimage marking the start of the third millennium of Christianity.

As if to underline the close proximity in which Christians and Muslims live, the daily call to prayer rang out from a loudspeaker on the minaret of the nearby Omar bin Khattab Mosque just as the pope finished his homily. There was a pause in the Mass until the muezzin had finished his call.

John Paul began the third day of his weeklong pilgrimage by flying to Al-Maghtas on the west bank of the Jordan River, where some biblical scholars believe Jesus was baptized. The pope on Tuesday had traveled to Wadi-Al-Kharrar, an alternative baptismal site on the east bank of the river in Jordan.

The brief, private visit to Al-Maghtas was a last-minute addition to the pope’s schedule. Located in a mined Israeli military area in territory disputed by the Palestinians, it is opened only once a year to Orthodox and once a year to Roman Catholic pilgrims.

The Vatican agreed to the papal visit to the site at the urging of Arafat and on condition that no authorities were present.

The 79-year-old pontiff stood apart from his entourage on a railed observation point. He gazed at the narrow river winding through the lush, green Jordan Valley, prayed with bowed head and blessed water from the Jordan in a marble font.

On his arrival at the Bethlehem heliport in an Israeli military helicopter, the pope was offered a bowl of Palestinian earth to kiss, a gesture normally reserved for his first visit to a country. Although the Palestinians have not yet achieved that status, John Paul, a longtime supporter of Palestinian statehood, kissed the earth.

Although the question of Palestinian self-determination and the fate of the Palestinian refugees are highly charged political questions, the pope was careful to put them in a humanitarian context.

“I am fully aware of the great challenges facing the Palestinian Authority and people in every field of economic and cultural development,” he told Arafat. “In a particular way my prayers are with those Palestinians _ Muslim and Christian _ who are still without a home of their own, their proper place in society and the possibility of a normal working life.

“My hope is that my visit today to the Dheisheh Refugee Camp will serve to remind the international community that decisive action is needed to improve the situation of the Palestinian people,”he said.

The pope has voiced an appeal for peace at every opportunity during this pilgrimage, and today was no exception.

“How can I fail to pray that the divine gift of peace will become more and more a reality for all who live in this lan, uniquely marked by God’s interventions?” he asked.

“The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian people have the natural right to a homeland and the right to be able to live in peace and tranquillity with the other peoples of this area,” the pope said.

“Shalom, grazie,” he said, using the Hebrew word for peace and the Italian for thanks.

DEA END POLK