MIDDLE EAST: The Holy Land prepares for Papal visit /U.S. based company offers worshippers around the world an on-line pilgrimage experience

Record ID: 643754

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: The Holy Land prepares for Papal visit /U.S. based company offers worshippers around the world an on-line pilgrimage experience
  • Date: 4th May 2009
  • Summary: MORE OF MAN IN FRONT OF COMPUTER
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8S72HPSE4HQKJZI2JK3EILVJ
  • Story Text: Christians in Israel and Jerusalem prepare for the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI who will tour the Holy Land for five days beginning May 11, a visit expected to draw thousands of pilgrims from around the world. Those who will not be able to make the journey, will enjoy the opportunity to witness the Papal visit in the comfort of their homes thanks to a U.S. based company that provides free, live on-line broadcasts of holy sites.
    The Holy Land scrambled in its preparations for the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI, who will visit Israel and the West Bank for five days beginning May 11. While Christians residing in Israel and Jerusalem prepared for the visit, a U.S. based company is offering worshippers around the world live on-line broadcasts from holy sites the Pope will visit.
    In Nazareth, Israel's largest Arab city which is believed to be the boyhood home of Jesus, the municipality and Christian clergymen prepared for the visit.
    "We are preparing first of all in the diocese, a lot of meetings and a lot of projects to prepare, and even in our Catholic schools. We are preparing (for) this event," said Father Elias Odeh of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem.
    The Pope will hold one of three scheduled public masses at Mount Precipicetour in Nazareth, where bulldozers are working to create an area that will accommodate some 40,000 Christian worshippers.
    After leading the public mass, the pope is scheduled to visit the Church of Annunciation, a traditional Roman Catholic site where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. The pope will enter the grotto of the church and afterward lead prayers and give a speech in the second story of the basilica. The pope will also meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the church.
    But Pope Benedict XVI will spend three days of his five-day visit in Jerusalem, the city holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims. He is scheduled to meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres as well as with Jewish, Christian and Jewish religious leaders.
    Rafael Ben-Hur, Deputy Director General of Israel's Tourism Ministry, told Reuters the Jewish state has spent millions of dollars on infrastructure and security for the Pope's visit, which is expected to draw thousands of tourists.
    Pope Benedict XVI's predecessor, John Paul II, made a historic visit to the Holy Land in 2000.
    More than one million Christian pilgrims visited Israel last year. The tourism ministry expects the papal visit to boost tourism.
    Heavy security measures will be in place during the visit and the Pope will sometimes travel on roads built specifically for him.
    "We prepare the religious holy sites in the north, in Jerusalem and we will do everything to make all the people from all over the world, when they come to Israel, all the pilgrims to feel comfortable and have this spiritual experience as much as nice and better and possible," Ben-Hur said.
    In Jerusalem, the pope is scheduled to visit Israel's Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem, al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims, the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews, as well as some of the holiest sites for Christians located in and around the walled Old City of Jerusalem.
    One of these sites is the Coenaculum, a second story room situated near a narrow alley just outside the Old City's walls where tradition says Jesus held the last supper before he was crucified.
    The walls and doorsteps of the building housing the room, built by the Crusaders in the 12th century, have been refurbished ahead of the visit. The pope will hold a public mass outside Jerusalem's Old city at the Valley of Josaphat, a site believed by many Christians to be the valley where the Last Judgement will take place.
    Thousands of worshippers and pilgrims from around the world are expected to attend the mass, but a U.S.-based company will make the mass available to many others around the world.
    IPrayTV.com has installed cameras in various sites holy to Christians in Jerusalem and the West Bank with the aim of broadcasting the Papal visit live on-line.
    Michael Peros, CEO of IPrayTV.com told Reuters that the free on-line service is meant to allow Christians around the world to 'connect' to the pilgrimage experience from the comfort of their living rooms.
    "We're putting together an international virtual prayer site through the internet based upon live prayers at the holy sites of Jerusalem so all people from around the world can come in and watch live streams," Peros told Reuters while installing a camera onlooking the Old City of Jerusalem.
    "Everybody in their homes around the world can come in and see all the holy sites live and prayer for peace in Jerusalem," he added.
    IPrayTV.com has also installed cameras in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the place where Jesus resurrected, as well as in the Nativity church in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where christians believe Jesus was born.
    But IPrayTV.com's live broadcasts are no consolation for Shadi al-Najar, a Christian living in the Gaza Strip.
    "If I were able to go to these places, I would be able to feel a religious blessing, more so than when I just watch the proceedings on the internet. In our own country, we cannot go to the places that we consider to be holy - the computer and the internet cannot replace actually being there," al-Najar said.
    Palestinians living in Gaza, home to some 3,000 Christians, cannot travel to the West Bank to attend the Pope's mass in Bethlehem, due to a blockade imposed by Israel on the Hamas-controlled territory.
    But an Israeli defence ministry official told Reuters that Israel would review requests by Palestinian Christians to leave the Gaza Strip to attend Papal events.
    Israel tightened a blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas Islamist seized the territory from secular Fatah rivals loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas.
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