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Pope Francis to visit Holy Land in May | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Pope Francis has announced his first trip as pontiff to the Holy Land, from 24 May to 26 May. | |
He will visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem in the West Bank, and the Jordanian capital, Amman. | |
He made the announcement during his weekly Sunday blessing in Vatican City. | |
The visit is so far his only foreign trip planned for 2014. The Pope will celebrate Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew. | |
"In the climate of joy typical of this Christmas period, I would like to announce that from 24 to 26 May, God willing, I will carry out a pilgrimage to the Holy Land," he told crowds gathered in St Peter's Square. | |
The date of his announcement - Sunday 5 January - marks the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting in Jerusalem between the Pope and the leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. | |
That date is significant because it "commemorates the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople" in 1964, he said. |