March 20th, 2000 ( EWTNews)  Following the Pope’s  arrival and welcome ceremony today at Amman's Queen Alia Airport, Pope John Paul traveled by car to Mount Nebo, 42 kilometers southwest of Jordan's capital.

Mount Nebo is east of the city of Madaba in Jordan and acts as a natural balcony overlooking the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley in front of Jericho and Jerusalem. It was at Mount Nebo where God showed Moses the Promised Land and where Moses spent his final days.

At the Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo, the Holy Father spent personal time in prayer, and then was received by some 40 local church leaders. The Pope then prayed for and with those gathered. After a private visit to the ancient monastery, Pope John Paul II and his motorcade drove to the Apostolic Nunciature in Abdoun, which was opened after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Jordan in 1994 and is currently responsible for relations with Iraq.

In the late afternoon the Holy Father went to the royal palace where he paid a courtesy call on King Abdallah II Bin Hussein of Jordan. Following this visit, the Pope met other members of the royal family and then returned to the Nunciature.