Here's the link to La Stampa

01/5/2014
Pope Francis will make "a pilgrimage to the Holy Land” next May

Pope Francis said the main purpose of this “pilgrimage of prayer” is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and the Ecuмenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras.

Pope Francis will “make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land” from 24-26 May, and visit Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

He made the announcement on January 5, after greeting and praying with tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square at midday on this rainy Sunday.

“In the climate of joy, typical of this Christmas season,  I wish to announce that from 24 to 26 May next, I will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, God willing!”, he stated. The crowd applauded enthusiastically.

He explained that “the main purpose” of this “pilgrimage of prayer” is “to commemorate the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, which took place on 5 January, exactly 50 years ago today.”

Last March, Patriarch Bartholomew attended the Pope’s inauguration and then invited Francis to join him in celebrating that 50th anniversary of the first encounter between a Pope and the Ecuмenical Patriarch of Constantinople since 1054. Francis agreed, and now will make a three-day visit to the Holy Land, just as Paul VI did in 1964. It will be his second journey outside Italy as Pope.

He said he will visit Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Then, seeking to underline the profoundly religious nature of this journey – which, significantly, he called “a pilgrimage of prayer” - Pope Francis announced that an “ecuмenical encounter” would be held at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem together with representatives of all the Christian Churches of Jerusalem and the Ecuмenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew 1.
 
The basilica is built over the site that Christians down the centuries have recognizes as the place of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but in that revered place too one can see clearly the divisions in the Christian family. Hence, the ecuмenical encounter that will be celebrated there during the Pope’s visit is an important sign of hope that such sad divisions can be overcome.

Speaking from the study window of the papal apartment (which he does not use), the Jesuit Pope did not give any other details of his program for this pilgrimage, but Church sources say they expect him to pray at the site of the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in Jordan, and to celebrate Mass in Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

Pope Francis concluded his announcement by asking everyone to pray for this pilgrimage. “As of now I ask you to pray for this pilgrimage”, he said. He also asked all present to pray for him and his ministry as Successor of Peter.  


(The emphasis is mine)

What is to be made of this?  
Is this to be another Assisi?
And the ONLY Mass he will have will be in Bethlehem, apparently Israel is trying to have him say Mass in Israel too.