AMMAN - Pope Benedict XVI stressed his deep respect for Islam on Friday in Jordan, on his first trip as pontiff to an Arab state.
Responding to a welcome address from King Abdullah II, the pope said his visit "gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community, and to pay tribute to the leadership shown by His Majesty the King in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam."
"I come to Jordan as a pilgrim, to venerate holy places that have played such an important part in some of the key events of Biblical history," he said.
The pope received a red carpet welcome from King Abdullah II and Queen Rania at Queen Alia Airport's royal pavilion as Jordanian artillery fired a salute in his honour.
He then individually greeted members of the royal family, Christian and Muslim clerics and dignitaries and members of the Jordanian cabinet.
"Religious freedom is, of course, a fundamental human right, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of every man and woman will come to be increasingly affirmed and defended, not only throughout the Middle East, but in every part of the world," he said.
In a welcoming address, Abdullah urged Christian-Muslim dialogue to dispel "divisions."
Stressing the "importance of co-existence and harmony between Muslim and Christian" the king warned that "voices of provocation, ambitious ideologies of division, threaten unspeakable suffering."
"We must reject such a course for our world's future. Today together we must renew our commitment to mutual respect," Abdullah told the pontiff.
"We welcome your commitment to dispel the misconceptions and divisions that have harmed relations between Christians and Muslims... It is my hope that together we can expand the dialogue we have opened," the monarch said.
Jordan's elite royal guard and army forces were posted along the road to the airport, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of the capital, where the pontiff was later to travel for the first stop on a crowded itinerary, a visit to the Regina Pacis centre for the handicapped in Amman.
The capital itself was festooned with Jordanian and Vatican flags while television stations ran live coverage of the arrival.
Benedict is to divide his visit between Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories (East Jeruselam and West Bank), with a stop in Bethlehem on Wednesday.
On Sunday he will celebrate mass at the Amman International Stadium, where he will bless around 2,000 Jordanian children.
The pontiff concludes his visit to the kingdom with a prayer at Wadi Kharrar on the east bank of the River Jordan, where many Christians believe Jesus was baptised, before leaving for Tel Aviv on Monday morning.
In Jordan, the opposition Islamic Action Front party said the pope must change his politics of silence.
"What we want is a change in his policies, so that it is in harmony with the teachings of Jesus about love, peace, justice, equality and condemnations of crimes and Zionist terrorism," party chief Zaki Bani Rsheid told AFP.
Palestinians urge pope to speak out
Palestinian advocacy groups on Thursday urged Pope Benedict XVI to speak out during his visit to the Holy Land against "atrocities" committed against their people by Israel.
Pope Benedict XVI's trip next week comes "at a time when the indigenous people of this land, both Muslims and Christians, are suffering under an extremely brutal military occupation," the Coalition for Jerusalem said in an open letter to the pontiff.
"In asking for forgiveness for the atrocities committed by people in our recent history, we are hopeful that your holiness will speak out against the continuing atrocities that are committed against the Palestinian people."
The letter decried "demolitions, land and property confiscation, evictions, revocation of residency rights, high taxations," which it said Israel carries out against Palestinians in a bid to maintain a Jewish majority in Jerusalem.
"Jerusalem today, and under the eyes and full knowledge of the international community is witnessing yet another wave of Israel's ethnic cleansing crimes that continue since 1948," the letter said.
Right-wing Israelis seek to sue pope over plunder
But the pope is unlikely to want to further strain relations with Israel.
In recent months, they have clashed over the pope's decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, Richard Williamson of Britain; and the sainthood dossier of Pope Pius XII.
Israel reviles him for his passive stance during the Holocaust.
Two far right-wing Israelis plan to press criminal charges Benedict when he visits Israel over Vatican treasures they claim were plundered from Jewish people over the centuries.
US-born Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Gvir have named Benedict as a leading defendant in a criminal complaint they plan to file before a court in occupied Jerusalem on Monday.
The two accuse the pontiff and other top Roman Catholic officials of receiving and possessing stolen goods.
The complaint lists treasure allegededly plundered from the Jewish people and held in the Vatican, incuding a golden Menorah looted from the Jerusalem Temple by Roman troops under general Titus, who played a major role in the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.
It also mentions that Jewish religious documents, as well as thousands of works of philosophy and science allegedly stolen on various occasions hundreds of years later, are held in the Vatican library.
The two chief rabbis of Israel Yonah Metzger and Shlomo Amar are listed among the witnesses.
Holy Land's Christian exodus
Many Christians living amid ever-tightening Israeli restrictions in the occupied West Bank have gone abroad.
Already a small minority, Christians have been steadily leaving the Palestinian territories because of harsh Israeli treatment.
The exodus has rung alarm bells in the Roman Catholic Church, and one of the main aims of Benedict's pilgrimage is to convince the dwindling Christian community to stay on.
The Church must do everything so that the region does not "become an archaeological site deprived of Church life," the pope told bishops from the Middle East and Africa during a January audience.
The pontiff's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories from Monday is aimed "first and foremost at encouraging them to remain in the country," said Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Vatican custodian of the holy sites.
Israel has built hundreds of kilometres (miles) of separation barrier and set up hundreds of checkpoints on Palestinian territories that have choked the territory's economy.
Israel's separation barrier has made movement around the West Bank a nightmare for Palestinian residents, with special permits required to get from one part to another.
Once the separation barrier is complete, Beit Jala will be split in two, as Israel has declared part of the town of 17,500 as belonging to occupied Jerusalem, another Palestinian territory under illegal Israeli occupation.
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