Pope Benedict XVI to conduct May Mideast tour

The AP:

A Jordanian Catholic church leader says Pope Benedict XVI will visit an Amman mosque during his Mideast tour in the second week of May.

The pope will arrive in Jordan on May 8 as part of an eight-day tour which will include Israel and the West Bank.

Father Rifat Bader, the spokesman and coordinator of the Jordanian portion of the tour, said Tuesday the pontiff will visit the Hussein Bin Talal Mosque, named after Jordan's late king who died in 1999.

It will be the Pope's second visit to a place of Muslim worship since he prayed at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul in 2006.

Bader added that the pontiff would meet with Muslim leaders to underline "coexistence between religions."

The pope also will visit biblical sites in Jordan.

A good friend of mine spent many months in Jordan. It has a small but strong Catholic community.