Amman Papal Mass

As many as 20,000 people turned up at the stadium in Amman on the third day of Benedict's weeklong pilgrimage to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Others had lined the route of the popemobile, greeting the pontiff with enthusiastic cheers as he passed on his way to the stadium. Many held up flags from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other countries.

Benedict said in English at the Amman stadium that "the Catholic community here is deeply touched by the difficulties and uncertainties which affect the people of the Middle East."

"May you never forget the great dignity which derives from your Christian heritage, or fail to sense the loving solidarity of all your brothers and sisters in the church throughout the world."

About 500 children were to receive their first communion at the Sunday mass.

During the mass the Pope also drew attention to womens' rights around the world, saying women often did not get the recognition they deserved.

Later on Sunday Benedict is to visit Bethany on the east bank of the River Jordan where Christians believe Jesus was baptised.

No new apology forthcoming

The pontiff, who arrived in Jordan on Friday for his first papal visit to an Arab state, is to travel on to Israel on Monday as he follows his Holy Land pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, he urged inter-faith reconciliation but disappointed Muslim clerics when he did not offer a new apology for remarks made in 2006, seen as disparaging to the Prophet Muhammad.

In a keynote address to Muslim leaders in Amman's huge Al-Hussein Mosque, he warned against the "ideological manipulation of religion" and urged Muslims and Christians to unite as "worshippers of God."

"Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied," the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics told his audience.

"However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

Pressing the theme of reconciliation during a visit on Saturday to Mount Nebo, where Biblical tradition says God showed Moses the Promised Land, Benedict urged Christians and Jews to bridge their divides.

"The ancient tradition of pilgrimage to the holy places also reminds us of the inseparable bond between the Church and the Jewish people," Benedict said.

Pius XII a bone of contention

On Monday, the pope will begin the second stage of his trip by flying to Israel where he is also expected again to focus on building bridges between the faiths.

Israel and the Vatican have clashed in recent months over the papal decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, Richard Williamson of Britain, and moves to canonize Pope Pius XII.

The Jewish state reviles Pius for what it perceives as his passive stance during the Holocaust in World War II.

ch/ai, dpa/afp