Five Things the Pope Must Do on His Mideast Visit

By all accounts, Benedict XVI had hoped the Holy Land would have been his first papal voyage. Following his 2005 election, the Pope wanted to reach Christianity's birthplace as soon as possible to make clear that a singular devotion to Jesus would be the driving theme of his papacy. But the realities of other Vatican travel commitments and the built-in complexities that come with this eternally contested stretch of territory meant that 11 other trips — and four years of his often tumultuous reign — would pass before Benedict ever could make the Middle East pilgrimage.

The weeklong visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories that begins Friday presents the most challenging and highly charged foreign mission to date for the 82-year-old Pope. With every step he takes and word he utters on this fragile land, the stakes are extra large for Benedict. He will indeed get to pray at Christianity's ancient holy sites, but success will by gauged along five very current objectives as complex as the region's troubled history.

1. Repair His Own Image
Loyal Benedict supporters will rightly point out that the papacy is neither a political office, nor a popularity contest. Yet any leader, whether running a country, a church or a corporation, can do his job better when he builds consensus and clearly communicates his message, without distraction. By any measure, Benedict is at the lowest point of his papacy on this front. He was lambasted by Catholics and non-Catholics alike over both the substance and form of the January lifting of the ex-communication of four ultra-traditionalist bishops, including one who denies the basic facts about the Holocaust. Just as that controversy was finally quieting, the Pope torpedoed his own carefully planned voyage to Africa in March by making a point of denouncing condom use as not only forbidden by Church teachings, but also a cause of the wider spread of AIDS.

This Pope has the potential to be both at his best and worst when he simply speaks his mind. With all the collaborators at his disposal, it is clear to those of us who write for a living that Benedict has been missing one crucial asset for doing his job better: a good editor. Sometimes just a tweak of a sentence, a word dropped in or whited out, could have saved much heartache and misunderstanding for the Vatican. Over this eight-day trip, the Pope will deliver 28 different discourses, likely to cover everything from inter-religious dialogue, Islamic radicalism to the Holocaust, Middle East peace and the well-being of Christian minorities. Each topic of every speech, pronounced on the Middle East stage, is a potential minefield. If he manages to avoid blatantly offending anyone — and maybe leaves the region a bold idea or two to chew on — he will return to Rome a stronger leader of his global flock.

2. Bridge Civilizations
For the second time in his papacy, Benedict will visit a mosque, meeting Muslim leaders at al-Hussein Ben-Talal mosque in Amman on Saturday. Like the visit he made in November 2006 to Istanbul's Blue Mosque, the Pope hopes his presence will help heal wounds left by the best remembered discourse of his papacy: a lecture at the University of Regensburg on Sep. 12, 2006, in which he linked Islamic theology with its recent struggles with violence in its ranks. But this time, more than merely his presence at the mosque may be required to convince some that he holds moderate views. The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has demanded that Benedict apologize for the Regensburg discourse. At the same time, there are some in the West who would like the Pope to return to the lingering topic of violence and faith with the more blunt approach he used in the famous speech. Perhaps real progress could be made in getting the different "civilizations" to step back from any looming clash if Benedict — with the help of that missing editor! — could find a way to do both.

3. Reassure the Jews
After his three-day stay in Jordan, the Pope will arrive in Israel on Monday, and will head straight to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Jewish leaders both inside and outside Israel have said they hope he will use this opportunity to further condemn the stance of archtraditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, whose excommunication was lifted at the same time an interview aired in which he claimed that Nazis didn't use gas chambers to kill people, and that Jewish victims of Hitler were no more than 300,000 rather than six million. There is also tension over the historical legacy of Pope Pius XII, the pontiff during World War II, who is criticized in a photo caption at Yad Vashem. On his 2000 pilgrimage, Pope John Paul II confirmed for Jews worldwide what they had sensed from the beginning of his papacy: that they were dear to his heart and high on his list of properties. For some Jewish leaders, the jury is still out on his successor. Benedict will also pay a visit to the Western Wall and a have a variety of inter-faith encounters with Jewish leaders that should give him ample opportunity to win over the followers of a religion that both he and John Paul II have characterized as "older brothers."

4. Push Peace in the Middle East
Along with all the religion packed into the region, there is of course also plenty of politics. John Paul II managed to give a boost to Middle East peace efforts nine years ago by convincing both sides that he was a good faith partner, and friend to both. Benedict likewise is seen as siding with neither the Israelis nor Palestinians, though as we've seen, he has managed to offend, even if unintentionally, both Muslims and Jews. He arrives at a particularly low moment in the peace process, five months after the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and with neither the long-term political mechanisms nor enough good will in place to work toward a solution. The Pope can't supply the diplomatic framework, but he could bring some much needed good will.

5. Don't Forget the Christians!
Finally, this complicated mission arrives at its original intent. Benedict will send a universal message to his entire flock by praying in Bethlehem, Nazareth and at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. But he is also there to give particular voice to Christians in the Middle East, whose presence has shrunk over the past century from 20% to 2% of the population. Paradoxically, though, local Catholic leaders in the region appear to be the least enthusiastic about the Pope's arrival, seeing high risks that his presence will further hinder efforts for a Palestinian homeland, putting their dwindling numbers under greater pressure as all sides radicalize further, both religiously and politically. Some of the Vatican's lead diplomats reportedly were pushing to postpone the trip, and security seems to be a real concern. But for Benedict, who has been aching to go to the Holy Land from Day One of his papacy, there was no longer time to wait.