In The Footsteps Of Moses
Pope John Paul II traveled into the desert of Egypt Saturday to the foot of the biblical Mt. Sinai, to stand on the rock where Moses stood and to preach the gospel of tolerance.
CBS News Correspondent Jesse Schulman accompanied the pope to the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai. The visit was the high point so far of the pope's plan to celebrate 2000 years of Christianity by walking in the footsteps of the prophets.
Ordinary Egyptians seems intrigued with their visitor, mainly because he is the biggest superstar to hit the place in years. The public had little chance to show any enthusiasm except in tightly controlled settings like a mass on Friday. The Cairo streets the pope traveled were mostly empty.
Even without the customary flesh pressing, John Paul's frailty has been plain to see. He has also radiated a steeliness of purpose, however, in his determination to see for himself the great shrines of his faith.
Friday's mass was the first papal Mass in Egypt, touching on the sensitive issue of discrimination against Christians in the mostly Muslim nation.
The pope was greeted with cheers, emotional waving and song as he slowly made his way to the altar, dressed in white and gold robes. He responded by solemnly raising his right hand in greeting.
Egypt's Copts, the largest Christian community in the Middle East, have a history of persecution dating to St. Mark, believed to have brought Christianity to Egypt around A.D. 43 and been martyred here by the Romans 20 years later. More recently, Muslim fundamentalist insurgents targeted Christians before crackdowns began weakening the movement.
The pope called for dialogue among the faiths. And he touched on the sensitive issue of discrimination against Christians. Egypt's Christians and Muslims generally live in peace, but Christians occasionally complain of being denied government posts, particularly high-ranking ones. Muslim-Christian tension can erupt into violence, as it did in January, when clashes in southern Egypt claimed 23 lives.
"It is right that everyone, Christians and Muslims, while respecting different religious views, should place their skills at the service of the nation, at every level of society," the pope said.
Only an estimated 220,000 Egyptians are Catholic, but they maintain a position of relative prominence.
The pope insists the trip -- the 90th foreign journey of his papacy -- is primarily a religious pilgrimage, but there's no separating religion and politics in the Middle East. John Paul originally hoped Jewish and Muslim leaders would pray with him at Mt. Sinai, but disagreements were just too great.
An even more grueling pilgrimage lies ahead, when he visits, Israel, Jordan and the West Bank next month.