[Andria Hall, Cnn Anchor:] Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians are preparing for Pope John II's historic trip to the Holy Land next week. In Bethlehem, where the pope will celebrate mass in Manger Square, thousands of police are preparing for one of the largest security operations the biblical city has ever seen. More now from CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief Walter Rodgers.
[Unidentified Male:] Our father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[Walter Rodgers, Cnn Jerusalem Bureau Chief:] The Roman Catholic faithful, a priest and pilgrims offering prayers before Pope John Paul II's visit to Jerusalem. Like these Christian pilgrims, the pontiff is about to embark on a deeply personal pilgrimage. Unlike their's, the pope's is politically complicated, complicated because his church believes it has special responsibilities in Jerusalem.
[Unidentified Male:] It is not possible to forget that the church has been founded in Jerusalem, by the Lord himself, because it is the city where Jesus suffered, died and rose again.
[Rodgers:] Three religions lay claim to Jerusalem. It has been the center of Judaism for three millennia. Though historians say before the modern Jewish state, Jewish rule existed only about 400 years. Muslim's ruled here longer, but lost control after the first World War. For them, it is home to the Allaksa Mosque, the third-holiest shrine in Islam. Israelis and Palestinians both lay claim to Jerusalem and into this spiritual and political pressure cooker the pope is coming to pray. Some Arabs say the pope favors their claim to the city.
[Hanan Ashrawi:] I think the Israelis are trying to get the pope's blessings for their control over Jerusalem, which is very clear they wouldn't get it. Nobody in the world, be they pope, or be they secular leaders, would recognize Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem.
[Rodgers:] Some Israeli's are wary of The Vatican's relationship with Palestinians. A recent agreement saw the holy sea warning that any attempt by the Jewish state to control the disputed city is quote "morally and legally unacceptable." Israelis were angry with The Vatican.
[Mayor Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem:] I don't need them to tell me which is my capital city. Jerusalem is my capital city. Jerusalem has been for 3,000 years the capital city of the Jewish people, undivided and united, and it will remain forever our capital, whether they agree to it or they don't agree to it.
[Rodgers:] So the pope must carefully navigate this controversy, but Rome's position does not make it easy. A Vatican document two years ago stated quote "Israel does not possess any legal title to the city, not even continued occupation and growing settling of the country would help Israel get title." Yet on the eve papal visit, that hardline is being soft-pedaled.
[Unidentified Male:] The problem of sovereignty, this is an aspect that belongs to the politician and the politician has to solve.
[Rodgers:] Preserving sacred sites, like the church of the Holy Sepulkur, and access for pilgrims seems the Vatican's real concern, far more than the issue of sovereignty in Jerusalem. [on camera]: For Rome, the Israeli-Palestinian quarrel is a small thing. The Vatican views history in terms of thousands of years. [voice-over]: One church scholar said Rome's real concern lies in protecting a shrinking Christian population here as Jerusalem's demographics shift. Some church officials say the prospect of Ultraorthodox Jews becoming dominant in Jerusalem frightens Rome, which views the Ultraorthodox as intolerant and hostile to Christians. It's a prospect that frightens some Israelis as well.
[Rabbi David Hartman:] I wouldn't feel safe as a Jew to be here if that as true. It's not a question of Christian holy sites; it's my own institution. I would be very threatened. In other words, I couldn't live in a triumphalists, Irani, fundamentalists mindset. I mean, Jews couldn't live here.
[Rodgers:] That Jerusalem is a troubled city is evidenced by the guns you see on the streets, and there is massive security for the pope's visit. So can the pope even walk through Jerusalem without inflaming the issue of conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims to the city?
[Abu Assal:] I feel that it will not be easy for him to ignore the issue. It's like, I mean like me being what I am, an Arab- Palestinian-Christian-Israeli, always finding myself to be caught in between. I'm sure he would say that there can be no peace without justice.
[Rodgers:] A thousand years ago, an Islamic scholar wrote, "Jerusalem is a golden bowl filled with a thousand scorpions." The pope may find it so again on his pilgrimage here. Walter Rodgers, CNN, Jerusalem.