Pooping out the Pope

May 1, 2009 - 12:14 AM by David

Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome in 2007.

We’re gearing up here for the arrival of one of the most charismatic guys around – attracting thousands of admirers to every appearance he makes. No, I’m not talking about Leonard Cohen, but Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives here the week after next.

It will mark the first visit of a pope to Israel since Pope John Paul II made a five-day pilgrimage in March, 2000.

I’m not sure who put together Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule, but even doing a quick scan of it left me breathless. It looks like somebody’s trying to poop out this pope, expecially considering he’s in his 70s.

Take a deep breath and imagine you’re in the Popemobile:

Monday, May 11

11:00 Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Official Welcoming Ceremony
12:05 Arrival at Mount Scopus helipad, Jerusalem. Welcoming Ceremony by Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat.
16:05 Visit to the President’s Residence, joint planting of a tree in the Presidential Garden
17:30 Visit to Yad Vashem, Memorial ceremony at the Remembrance Hall; Wreath laying; Address by the Pope.
19:00 Interfaith Meeting, Notre Dame Hotel

Tuesday, May 12
09:15 Meeting with the Mufti, Temple Mount
10:00 Visit to the Western Wall
10:35 Meeting with the Chief Rabbis, Heichal Shlomo
12:00 Visit to the Church of Dormition – site of the Last Supper
12:30 Visit and Prayer at Latin Patriarch
16:15 Mass at the Garden of Gethsemane

Wednesday May 13
08:00-19:00 Visit to Bethlehem

Thursday May 14
08:30 Travel to Nazareth
09:15 Arrival in Nazareth, Welcoming Ceremony
10:00 Mass at Mount of the Precipice
15:50 Meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Church of the Annunciation
16:30 Meeting with the Faith Heads in Israel, Church of the Annunciation
17:30 Prayer at the Church of the Annunciation
19:00 Return to Jerusalem

Friday May 15
09:15 Meeting at the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch
10:00 Visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
13:30 Leaving Ceremony, Ben Gurion Airport