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POPE VISITED CHURCH OF THE PRIMACY OF PETER
Vatican City, 25 (NE) In the frame of his fifth day of pilgrimage to Holy Land, Pope John Paul
II visited yesterday Tabgha on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. There the Holy Father
visited the church of the Multiplication of the Loaves. According to tradition, the rock upon
which Jesus placed the bread later became the altar of a church. The remains of this church,
which was constructed in 350 A.D., lie to the right of the modern-day church which is entrusted
to the care of Benedictine fathers.
The Pope then visited the church of the Primacy of Peter, which was reconstructed in 1933 by
the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. The church recalls the place of St. Peter's triple
confession after the Resurrection of the Lord and the confirmation of his ministry. From there the
Pope traveled to Capernaum, also on the Sea of Galilee, a site from where the Shrine of the
House of Peter can be seen. During the day, the Pope met as well Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak.
Meanwhile, it was announced that the area used for the Mass the Holy Father presided at the
Mount of Beatitudes in the morning will be transformed into a forest in honor of Pope John Paul
II. For this purpose, at the end of the Mass celebrated with over 100,000 youth from the
Middle East and around the world, the Pope was presented with the first tree to be planted and
which he blessed.
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