JOHN PAUL II VISITS TEMPLE MOUNT AND WAILING WALL

VATICAN CITY, MAR 26, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul, on this last morning of his Jubilee pilgrimage to the Holy Land, visited the Temple Mount, in the eastern part of Jerusalem's Old City, paid a courtesy call on Sheikh Akram Sabri, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and also made a stop at the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall.

The Temple Mount, known in Arabic as Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (most holy and most noble enclosure), is a trapezoid-shaped, walled, raised area which occupies one sixth of Jerusalem's Old City. It was on this site that Solomon built the temple of Jerusalem, which was rebuilt at the end of the first century by Herod, who also doubled the size of the Temple Mount. Two mosques - the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa - occupy this site as well as other holy places with minarets, fountains and tunnels.

The area of the Temple Mount is dear to the followers of the three monotheistic religions; to Jews because it was the site where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, as well as that of Solomon's temple; to Muslims who consider it the third pilgrimage site, after Mecca and Medina, and the place from which the prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven; to Christians because it was here that Christ spoke of the destruction of the Temple.

The golden-domed, octagonal-shaped Dome of the Rock is the oldest extant Muslim monument in the Holy Land. The first mosque, built in 640, was substituted in 687 by the current one. In the 12th century it was transformed into a Christian church by the crusaders, who called it "Templum Domini," thus giving rise to the name of the equestrian order of Templars. It was restored as a Muslim place of worship by Saladin in 1187. In the center of this sumptuously decorated mosque is the sacred rock on which Mohammed prayed before going to Heaven.

The Al-Aqsa mosque, whose name in Arabic means "the furthest away," is, according to Muslim tradition, the spot furthest from Mecca where Muhammed was miraculously carried one night. It was built at the start of the eighth century, was destroyed by earthquakes, rebuilt, became a church of the Templars and, like the Dome of the Rock, was later restored as a Muslim place of worship by Saladin. During the 1938 restoration of the mosque, King Farouk of Egypt restored the ceiling and Mussolini donated the columns of Carrara marble.

Following his visits to these sites which are important for Muslim believers, Pope John Paul was received by the Grand Mufti and several other Muslim leaders.

He next visited what is considered the "spiritual heart" of Judaism, the Wailing Wall. This 15-meter high structure is a fragment of the wall which supported the western side of the esplanade of the temple. Among the customs associated with this wall is that of placing small pieces of paper containing prayer petitions into the crevasses of the wall.

Here, the Holy Father read a passage from the March 12 Day of Pardon at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, asking forgiveness by the Jews for past sins against them by Christians. The Pope placed the paper containing this passage, which he had signed and which bore the papal crest, into the wall. This paper has since been transferred to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Following these visits to the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall, Pope John Paul II went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where he celebrated his last Mass of this Holy Land pilgrimage.

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