WHEN POPE Benedict XV1 stops to pray at a pool of still green water here tomorrow, his visit will bolster the case that Jesus was baptised at this spot on the east bank of the Jordan river.
The exact location is unclear and a rival spot across the narrow muddy river has long claimed to be the place where John the Baptist and Jesus met for the cleansing ritual.
Over a decade ago now, Jordanian experts unearthed ruins of ancient churches amid tamarisk trees here and found early pilgrims' writings about the site. Christian denominations have begun building churches for modern pilgrims nearby.
Rustom Mkhjian, assistant director of the Baptism Site Commission developing the area, said the archaeological evidence showed early Christians saw this as the true site.
"Why did they insist on building churches on this point?" he asked at an observation post on the wooded flood plain a short walk inland from the river. "The answer is clear. This is where Jesus was baptised."
The pope, who started a tour of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories yesterday, continuing until May 15th, will visit the site and lay cornerstones for two Catholic churches on higher ground nearby.
What's not done may be just as telling as what is. The pope will not visit the rival site at Qasr al Yahud on the other side of the river, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. When Pope John Paul visited the region in 2000, he celebrated Mass at Bethany but also briefly visited Qasr al Yahud.
The Vatican nuncio (ambassador) in Amman, Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikat, said confirming the site's authenticity or not "was not the point of the Holy Father's visit".
But the local Catholic Church has joined Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, heads of world Lutheran and Baptist groups and several Orthodox leaders in backing it. The star United States evangelical pastor Rick Warren recently joined in.
Winning recognition for Bethany as the authentic baptism site is not simply a matter of local pride. It boosts Jordan's image as an important Holy Land pilgrimage site.
"Tourism accounts for 12 per cent of our gross domestic product, and 25 per cent of those tourists go to the baptism site," said a senior official in Amman who asked not to be named. "We want more tourists to come here."
Jordan's generous support in developing the site, offering land for churches and pilgrimage centres, and trying to keep its dwindling Christian minority from emigrating, also fits into a wider policy of fostering religious harmony in the area, he said.
Israel signalled renewed interest on Thursday in promoting Qasr al Yahud as the spot where Jesus was baptised. A spokesman for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was on a list of projects which the Israeli leader intended to pursue to strengthen the Palestinian economy.
Palestinians have dismissed Netanyahu's stated intention of improving their economy to boost peace prospects, saying he must endorse their goal of an independent state.
Religion is not a divisive issue in this mostly Muslim country, but some analysts fear it could become one if the Christian minority, now down to about 1.5 per cent, disappeared and Islam became a point of dispute in Jordanian politics.
"Christian-Muslim harmony is a national security issue," the official said. Maintaining religious harmony helps to keep in place a social and political balance among majority Palestinians, minority tribes and other groups.
Christians are guaranteed 9 per cent of parliamentary seats, reflecting the size the minority once had. That level has dropped because of falling birth rates, regional instability and a higher education level that enabled many to emigrate.
Isolated in a closed military zone from 1967 to 1994, the Bethany baptism site was discovered in the late 1990s by experts following St John's Gospel, which described the location of the biblical site three times as being""beyond the Jordan" rather than on the West Bank.
Writings by pilgrims from the fourth to 12th centuries spoke of a stairway to the water and pillars holding up churches against occasional flooding. Excavations have uncovered stairs, foundations of five churches and several other sites.
Floods and earthquakes destroyed those churches, but persistent rebuilding on the site and early pilgrimages there convinced the Jordanians this was the right location.
Palestinian tourism minister Khouloud Daibes, a Christian, told Reuters: "According to our religion, the whole river is a site of baptism, but for the past 2,000 years pilgrims have been coming to this site [on the West Bank]." - (Reuters)