Vatican City, Mar 26, 2009 / 08:29 am
Having just completed the papal trip to Africa, preparations are under way for Pope Benedict XVI’s first trip to the Holy Land in a little more than a month. On Thursday morning the Vatican released details of the Pope’s May 8-15 trip.
Pope Benedict will leave from Rome at 9:30 a.m. on May 8 and land at the Queen Alia airport in Amman, Jordan at 2:30 p.m. The first day of the trip will consist of a 3:30 p.m. visit to the city's Queen of Peace Center, followed by a courtesy visit to the Jordanian monarchs at the al-Husseinye royal palace.
The second day of the Jordanian leg of the trip will involve a visit to the Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo, and the blessing of the cornerstone for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem's Madaba University in the morning.
The Pope will then visit a Jordanian museum and the Mosque of al-Hussein bin Talal in Amman. This will be followed by a meeting with Muslim religious leaders, the diplomatic corps and rectors of Jordanian universities. On Saturday evening, the Holy Father will preside at the celebration of Vespers with priests, religious, seminarians and ecclesial movements in the Greek-Melkite cathedral of St. George in Amman.