NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      JERUSALEM (CWNews.com) - A Vatican official in Israel on Monday announced the expected dates next year for a visit by Pope John Paul II, the first such indication by the Vatican that such a trip is planned.

      Although Israeli officials had earlier announced such a trip was in the works, the Vatican had remained silent on the possibility of a papal trip to the Holy Land during the Jubilee Year, a journey that is close to the Holy Father's heart.

      "A papal visit is in the very advanced stages of planning," Monsignor Richard Mathes, the Vatican's cultural attache in Israel, told a conference of religious leaders. He said the Pope is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on March 20, 2000. The final obstacle to an official announcement of a trip is apparently real progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

      Monsignor Mathes said a papal visit to Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem is also conditioned on an end to organized violence in those areas and a period of calm.

Articles provided through Catholic World News and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and International Dossiers, Daily Dispatches and Features at ZENIT International News Agency. CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.