(17 Feb 2000) English/Nat

Preparing are under way in the Holy Land for the first visit by a pope in more than thirty years.

Pope John Paul II is due to arrives in Israel on March 20 for a week-long visit that will take him from the narrow streets of Jerusalem's Old City to the northern Sea of Galilee, where Jesus is said to have walked on water and fed the five thousand with loaves and fishes

While in Jerusalem, the pontiff will have to temporarily forsake his Pope mobile because it is too wide for the winding alleys of the Old City.

Instead, he'll visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the supposed site of Jesus' tomb, in an Israeli armoured vehicle.

To make sure the 79-year-old pope's ride is not bumpy, the Old City's sloping, stepped streets are being fitted with temporary inserts that will create a smooth, level path to the church.

The fittings will be removed after the visit.

When the Pope arrives at Korazim on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, he will find a 6-thousand-bed tent camp provided free of charge to some of the 45-thousand seminary students who will accompany him on his pilgrimage.

The tents, which are resistant to the cold, will house the students as they await an open-air mass near the site where Jesus is said to have performed the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.

The mass is to be the biggest event of the Pope's March 20-26 pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian areas.

The pope's visit to the Holy Land, the first by a pontiff since 1964, is expected to bring thousands of pilgrims to Israel and the Palestinian areas.

It's hope that John Paul's visit, following a 1994 treaty establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican, will do something to improve the historically troubled relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people.

APTN

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I didn't actually dream of doing something for him, but I am now, so work hard and do it."
SUPER CAPTION: Shawn, South African volunteer

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In the beginning when we saw it, it seemed impossible to have a meeting here. But it seems like a dream that comes true."
SUPER CAPTION: Antonio Chipiani, Vatican representative

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