Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport (from Jordan), Official welcoming ceremony headed by President Shimon Peres. [The Pope will head an official delegation of 40 representatives from the Vatican, and will be accompanied by about 70 representatives of the foreign media.]
•Brief reception by the Mayor of Jerusalem and local leaders
•Official welcoming ceremony and meeting with President Shimon Peres
•Visit Yad Vashem Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Memorial of the Holocaust
•Meeting with the Council of Religious Community Leaders in Israel (the Chief Rabbis, the President of the Moslem Religious Court of Appeals, Christian religious leaders, and the heads of the Druze Community)
Jerusalem and the Mass at Kidron Valley
•Visit at the Temple Mount and meeting with the Grand Mufti
•Visit the Western Wall accompanied by the Chief Rabbis
•Visit the Chief Rabbis of Israel at Heichal Shlomo Synagogue
•Visit Mt. Zion and the Cenacle (the Site of the Last Supper)
•Visit Gethsemane Church and hold Mass at the Kidron Valley with an
expected 5000 participants.
Visit to Bethlehem
•Visit Bethlehem
••Welcoming by the head of the Palestinian Authority and preparations
for the mass at Manger Square
Visit to Nazareth
•Arrive in Nazareth
••Brief reception by the Mayor of Nazareth with local leaders
•Holy Mass at Mt. of Precipitation
••Visit the Church of the Annunciation for Mass
•Meeting with the local religious leaders in the Galilee
Meetings and departure from Jerusalem
•Meet with local religious leaders at local Churches in Jerusalem
•Official farewell and ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport,
Including speeches by President Shimon Peres and Pope Benedict XVI
•Depart on special El Al flight for Rome