From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The papal visit, religion and politics in the Middle East.

Hello again, I'm Warren Olney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Pope Benedict the 16th threaded his way through the Middle East today as he continued his pilgrimage in Israel.

He met the Palestinians senior cleric, the Grand Mufti, at the Dome of the Rock, then left a prayer in a niche in the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites.

Rabbis and politicians have criticized his speeches and the Vatican denied he'd

ever belong to Hitler youth, contradicting the Pope himself. Will his visit help reinvigorate the peace

process? Will it be a boon for the diminishing number of Christians who still live in the

Holy Land? On reporter's notebook later on, repairing the Hubble, the mission, and the risk. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again. Warman-Aulney, back with To the Point. This

week's

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land by Pope Benedict the 16th has turned somewhat contentious. We'll hear the

assessments of Jews, Palestinians, and Roman Catholic Christians. On reporters' notebooks, seven astronauts

are inspecting the shuttle Atlantis for damage as they head for the Hubble telescope. We'll

have an update. First, this

news, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, the President's special envoy to Pakistan and

Afghanistan described his mission in stark terms. Here's Richard Holbrook, one of the State

Department's most experienced diplomats. This is as tough as anything I've ever seen before,

anything I've ever worked on.

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