VATICAN CITY, Dec 3: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday invited Pope Benedict to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and visit the Holy Land.

“You will be very welcome in Jerusalem and the holy places,” Mr Abbas told the pope at the end of a 20-minute private audience in the pope’s library.

The German pope responded: “Thank you very much.”

Mr Abbas later told reporters the pope had ‘responded positively’ to the invitation but did not discuss any dates.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav met the pope last month and invited him to visit the Jewish state.

By specifically mentioning Jerusalem, which is under full Israeli control, Mr Abbas was making a clear political statement.

Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it as part of its capital in a move not recognized internationally.

Pope Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul, made a historic trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2000.

During his pilgrimage, the pope asked the Jews for forgiveness for centuries of persecution by Roman Catholics and also spoke of the suffering of the Palestinian people, calling for the creation of a Palestinian state.

During the public part of the audience on Saturday, a member of Mr Abbas’s delegation gave the pope a document created by the citizens of Bethlehem to invite him to the birthplace of Jesus, which is in the occupied West Bank.

Initial reports suggested the document was a Palestinian passport, but Mr Abbas later denied that.

“The document we presented to the Holy Father was not a passport, although we would be honoured if he accepted a Palestinian passport,” Mr Abbas said. “It was a document collectively fashioned by the inhabitants of Bethlehem.”

During their meeting, the two men also discussed the Middle East peace process.

The Vatican said the pope raised ‘the need to integrate all levels of the Palestinian population into the peace process’ — an apparent reference to extremist groups that regularly resort to violence to further their cause.

Mr Abbas said he thought the pope could play a vital role in bringing peace to the Holy Land.

“His Holy Father, for the role that the Vatican plays and the symbolic weight that it has in the international community, can play a decisive role in the Middle East peace process.”

The pope also talked about the difficulty Catholics were experiencing in Palestine amid media reports that Christians living there have suffered violence and intimidation at the hands of extremists. —Reuters