Israel Says Pope Will Visit on Annunciation 2000
, March 22—Israel is on pins and needles as it awaits Vatican confirmation of a proposed visit by Pope John Paul II in March of next year to mark the start of Christianity's third millennium.
Reuters reported that the Israeli Tourism Ministry announced that the Holy Father would begin the historic visit to the Holy Land on March 25, 2000 and that the visit would include Israel and Palestinian self-rule areas, including Nazareth.
Two days later, the Jerusalem Post's Haim Shapiro reported that, “even as local tour companies were flooded with requests for rooms on March 25, 2000, and as the Tourism Ministry went into high gear to prepare for the papal visit on that date, local Catholic officials could not confirm that any specific date had been set.”
First Jewish Architect to Design a Catholic Church
, March 28—The year 2000 may be remembered for its “firsts.”
Since Pope Boniface VIII inaugurated the first jubilee in 1300, holy years and accompanying urban renewal projects have been the sole responsibility of the Vatican. This year, however, with the marking of the millennium and the Church's Great Jubilee, “the state is sharing the financial burden for the jubilee with the Church,” reported Eleanor Curtis.
While the Church is commissioning such international architects as Richard Meier, an American, and Alvaro Siza from Portugal to construct two new churches, Rome's City Council has chosen an Italian, Renzo Piano, to design a new auditorium, and a music and arts complex, the report said.
Meier, famed for his designs for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, “is the first Jewish architect in history commissioned to design a [Catholic] church,” wrote Curtis.