Pope Pilgrimage

King Abdullah II welcomed Pope Benedict XVI at the airport in Jordan's capital, Amman, the first stop on the pontiff's eight-day pilgrimage to the Middle East.

In an address shortly after he arrived, Pope Benedict said he viewed religious freedom as a "fundamental human right" and that the visit gave him the opportunity to speak of his "deep respect for the Muslim community."

The pontiff also praised King Abdullah for "promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam."

In his welcoming address, King Abdullah called for more dialogue between Christians and Muslims to dispel divisions between the two faiths.

"Voices of provocation, ambitious ideologies of division, threaten unspeakable suffering," the monarch said.

King Abdullah also told the pope that they must help "lift the shadow of conflict" from the region, and called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Rocky relations

Pope Benedict's arrival in Jordan marks his first visit to an Arab country since he was appointed to the post.

The Vatican's relations with both the world's Muslim and Jewish communities have been tense with the German-born Benedict as pope.

In a 2006 speech, Pope Benedict quoted a byzantine King as describing the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as violent and inhumane.

Even if the incident was later described as being merely the use of a quotation, it was enough to cause a major scandal and alienate many – even within the Roman Catholic Church. Jordanian Islamist leaders have denounced the pope's current visit, saying his earlier remarks targeted Islam.

After Jordan, the pontiff heads to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Relations with the Jewish world have also been strained under Pope Benedict. He reintroduced the Jewish community into his annual Good Friday prayer – seen by many critics as a return to a patronising and arrogant notion of Christian supremacy.

Earlier this year, the Williamson scandal added further to the rift. The pope lifted the excommunication of British Bishop Richard Williamson, who had publicly denied the Holocaust. A senior Vatican official said the issue had put the pope in a weak position and that Israel could "take full advantage of it."

Yet another controversial issue is the plan to canonize former Pope Pius XII – who's been heavily criticized for his failure to act and speak out against Nazi crimes in Germany during the 1930s and 40s.

To stress his own commitment to the Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, the pope is scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel – but in a diplomatic move he is to skip the adjoining museum with its documentation on Pius XII.