Jordan Times
Monday, may 24, 1999
King to meet Pope in June — envoy
Agencies
HIS MAJESTY King Abdullah is to meet Pope John Paul II in the Vatican on June 4, an envoy of the Holy See said on Sunday.
“King Abdullah will be received by the Pope,” said Dominique Rezeau, charge d'affaires of the Holy See in Amman.
He gave no further details of the King's trip and Jordanian officials declined to confirm the meeting, which would follow King Abdullah's planned visit to France on June 2 and talks in Amman with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah on June 3.
King Abdullah has already travelled to the Gulf Arab states and North Africa. He has yet to return from a four-nation tour of Europe and North America and is due to travel to Tunisia and Algeria at the end of this month.
He has repeatedly expressed optimism about the Middle East peace process and said Arab states would respond positively if Israel showed real commitment to make peace with the Palestinians and with neighbouring Syria.
Vatican sources said last week they expected Pope John Paul to travel to Iraq before the end of the year to visit the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham.
But Rezeau declined to say whether the King would formally invite Pope John Paul to Jordan as part of the pontiff's planned visit to other biblical sites in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah has accepted an invitation to visit Kuwait, the Kuwaiti cabinet affairs minister said on Sunday.
“The Jordanian Monarch accepted the invitation to visit Kuwait... to boost bilateral ties in all fields and to exchange views over issues of common concern,” Abdul Aziz Dekhil told the official news agency KUNA.