Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch confirmed that Pope Benedict 16th will visit Israel in May on his first trip to the region as pontiff.
Fuad Twal, the Roman Catholic representative in the holy land, told reporters, "With joy we would like to announce to you the desire of his holiness Pope Benedict 16th to visit the holy land as a pilgram next May."
Twal did not give specific dates but last week the Italian newspaper Il Foglio said the pope would travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories from May 8 to 15.
Pope Paul 6th was the first pontifff to visit Israel in 1964. Pope John Paul 2nd visited in 2000.
By REKA Israel
ANSA reports on Pope's upcoming visit.
The possibility that the pope would visit the Holy Land in 2009 was first confirmed by the Vatican last month after it was reported by the Israeli daily Haaretz.
At the time the Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy, said the visit was ''very probable''.
''We're working hard on it,'' he said. ''A visit by the pope to the Holy Land would have incomparable historic value and he himself has already announced his desire to go there,'' Lewy added.
The ambassador admitted that there were ''certainly differences of opinion'' between the Vatican and the Israeli authorities, but that these did not constitute an obstacle to the pontiff's visit.
The main cause of contention between the two states centres around wartime Pope Pius XII, who many Jews have criticised for failing to speak out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust.
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