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CNN Live Saturday

Papal Visit Intermingles With Middle Eastern Politics

Aired May 05, 2001 - 17:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: As part of his six-day trip to several Mediterranean nations, Pope John Paul II is in Syria today. He is talking to religious and political leaders, hoping to heal old wounds and to set the groundwork for peace in the region.

CNN's Jim Bittermann has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the pope spent his time in Athens trying to mend the split between two churches; in Damascus, he prayed for the unity of a Christian church that has splintered into dozens of small, but distinct, fragments.

Syria has always been a crossroads of trade, culture and religions, and it was never more plain than at an ecumenical meeting at the Greek Orthodox cathedral. The leader of one billion Roman Catholics met with clergymen who represent Christian faiths, some of which only number in the tens of thousands: Greek Catholics and Orthodox, Syrian Catholics and Orthodox, Armenian Catholics and Orthodox, Maronites and Chaldeans.

Getting them to sit down together was an event; an accomplishment, one Vatican official said, would be just having them all agree on the same date for Easter.

(on camera): Earlier, when the pope arrived in Damascus, he seemed not so concerned with division among Christians, as the overall political divisions in the Middle East.

(voice-over): In a measured speech, which was clearly aimed at Israel, John Paul said it was time to return to the principals of international legality, a ban of the acquisition of territory by force, and the right of people to self-determination.

For his part, Syrian President Bachar Al-Assad used the opportunity to lash out at Israel, reminding his international audience of crimes being committed against Palestinians, and apparently trying to revive ancient angers between Christians and Jews.

PRESIDENT BACHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIA (through translator): They try to kill all the principles of divine faiths with the same mentality of betraying Jesus Christ and torturing him in the same way they tried to commit treachery against the prophet Mohammed.

BITTERMANN: A Vatican spokesman said the pope was not surprised at the blistering attack, that he has heard that kind of view expressed in the Middle East before, and that the president had just taken advantage of the pope's presence and was not trying to politicize his visit.

Still, the cause of the Palestinians was strongly taken up again during events late the day, as it seems certain to be in the days to come.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Damascus, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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