Paven møter Jerusalems muslimske leder

JERUSALEM (CWNews.com) - On March 26, as he began his final day in Jerusalem-- a day that would take him to the Western Wall of the Temple and then to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre-- Pope John Paul II visited the leading Muslim official of the ancient city.

The Pope's meeting with Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri took place at the Al Aqsa mosque, on the eastern side of the Temple Mount. This mosque, built in the 7th century, is regarded at the third-most sacred site in the world of Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The Muslim side of the Temple Mount also boasts the Dome of the Rock, which caught the sunlight of the morning as the Pope arrived.

Sheikh Sabri had called attention to his meeting with the Pontiff by indulging in several public attacks on the government of Israel in the days just prior to the meeting. (Spokesmen for the Vatican said that the Pope had not had time to read the sheikh's angry speeches before their conversation.) And during his half-hour meeting with the Pope, the Muslim leader again had harsh words to say about the Israeli government; he pleaded for papal help to end "the suffering of the Palestinian people."

Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update