THE Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday invited Pope John Paul II to visit Israel "as soon as possible" during a 20 minute private audience in the Vatican which focused on the Middle Fast peace process.
Looking more nervous than his distinguished host, the Israeli Prime Minister paused on the threshold of the Pontifical Library to bid farewell to the Pope, saying: "We look forward to receiving you in Jerusalem."
The Pope responded: "God Bless Israel".
Later, Mr Netanyahu told reporters he had invited the Pope to "make a visit to the Holy Land as soon as possible". Mr Netanyahu's invitation was confirmation of a previous one issued two years ago by the former Israeli prime minister, the late Yitzhak Rabin.
Although the Pope makes no secret of his desire to visit the Holy Land by 2000, serious diplomatic obstacles stand between him and such a visit.
For a start, the biblical Holy Land embraces parts of modern Israel, Syria and land controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
During a visit to the Pope last year, the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, invited the Pope to visit Christ's birthplace in Bethlehem.
Although the Vatican and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1994, the two states have different views about the status of Jerusalem.
While Israel declared the city its "united and eternal capital" in 1980, the Vatican has always argued that the city should have some form of extra territorial international status which would guarantee the rights of believers of the three major religions - Judaism, Islam and Christianity - which all look on Jerusalem as a holy city.
Significantly, the Vatican embassy to Israel is housed in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.
In his discussions with Mr Netanyahu, the Pope reiterated traditional Vatican thinking on the rights of all major religions in the Middle East.
He expressed the wish that the region might become a place where: "Jews, Christians, Muslims, Israelis and Arabs, believers and non believers, can create and consolidate a concrete in respect of everyone's rights and dignity".