Word: pope
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...medical treatment. Security has tightened even more since Israel's 22-day military assault on Gaza, which ended in January. The Vatican and the Latin Church in the Holy Land are also pleading with Israeli authorities to make a goodwill concession and allow Gaza's Christians to see the Pope. Says Father George, who officiates mass at the Cinema Club: "All they want is 24 hours of freedom to see the Holy Father...
...altar of the Virgin Mary is easy to disassemble so that the room can revert to being a Cinema Club when the Muslim students return to class. On the wall hangs a trinity of portraits that display the seemingly contradictory loyalties of Palestinian Christians: the Latin Patriarch, the Pope and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
...During the British Mandate, which ended in 1948, Christians made up more than 20% of the population. Today, the figure has fallen to 2.5% in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Bethlehem-ites wanted the Pope to realize the full brunt of their confinement, so they erected a platform for the Pope's mass - which is scheduled for Wednesday - near the Israelis' 22-ft [7-m.] concrete "security fence" crowned in barbed wire, but the Israelis forced them to stop work on the platform for "security reasons." Johnny, who works in a Biblical souvenir shop in Manger Square and prefers...
...Given that the Pope is German, much of the emphasis of his "pilgrimage" to the Holy Land has been to improve ties with the Jews and the state of Israel, which the Vatican only recognized in 1993. Arab Christians say that have no objection to the Vatican reaching out to Jews, but at the same time, they don't want the Pontiff's visit to gloss over their own troubles with the Israelis. Says George Said, a Bethlehem property dealer: "If the Pope continues to keep quiet about the suffering of Christians from Israelis, a day will come when...
...Another Bethlehem Christian named Nadia says she would like to see the Pope endure the same difficulties as Palestinians do every day while crossing the Israeli checkpoint. "The Holy Father would have to stand in line for several hours, then remove his belt and shoes and cross just to get past the security barrier," she muses...