The Pope to hold a mass at the Damascus Abbasids' Stadium
Syria-Vatican, Politics, 5/4/2001

On Sunday, his second day in damascus, Pope John Paul II will hold a mass at the Damascus city sport Stadium of al-Abbassid. This mass is expected to be attended by 50,000 audiences.

The schedule of the mass says that after the Pope arrives to the Platform of the Stadium by an electric lift, he enters a " Skarestia " where he will take a ten-minute rest before he starts the mass under a structure designed in the shape of Saint Simon church of Aleppo to the north of Syria.

On the left side of the platform there will be a religious Choral, while the Syrian national symphony bank will play religious tunes accompanying the mass.

Senior officials and diplomats are to be seated on chairs facing the platform where the Pope seats at the playground of the Stadium. From an opposite forum events of the mass will be shot by some 50 cameras.

After the mass the pope will head to the patriarchy of the Greek Orthodox church which is situated in al-Zeitoun ( olive) street near Bab Sharqi, one of the seven Gates of Damascus, where the Pope will be meeting with several patriarchs and invitees and deliver a speech before he will have his lunch with the patriarchs and archbishops escorting him.

Well-informed sources said that the Greek-Orthodox patriarchy has allotted some $ 750,000 to expand the patriarchy.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian information minister: the Pope's visit to Quneitra aims at tracing Israeli crimes   (5/1/2001)
  A Syrian diplomatic campaign during the Pope's visit to Syria   (4/30/2001)
  Some 15 world countries to transmit the prayer of the Pope in al-Quneitra   (4/28/2001)

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