JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II celebrated mass today in a suburb of Cairo. Twenty thousand people jammed a sports arena, cheering the 79-year-old pope and this unprecedented trip he's making. Tomorrow, he visits Egypt's Mount Sinai, a site of enormous biblical significance. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The wilderness of Sinai has always drawn the faithful. Pilgrims from around the world gather to watch the sunrise from atop Mount Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. The climb to the top is arduous, the cold bitter. As his last act before leaving Egypt, Pope John Paul will pray at the foot of Mount Sinai, officially the purpose of this visit, the first visit by a Catholic pope to this predominantly-Muslim country. (on camera): Pope John Paul II's visit to Egypt has been an exercise in bridge-building, building bridges to Egypt's Muslim majority, its Coptic Orthodox minority and the Greek Orthodox Church, which runs this, the monastery of St. Catherine. (voice-over): Founded in 527 by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, St. Catherine's Monastery and its monks have managed to survive in this inhospitable environment with little to protect them from invading armies and isolation but their faith and wits. To prevent one particularly-hostile Muslim ruler from destroying the monastery, the monks built a mosque inside the walls. Outside, Christians of all persuasions worship, voices in a wilderness where the racket of the modern world is but a distant echo. Ben Wedeman, CNN, at St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula.
Pope John Paul II Heads to Mt. Sinai in Historic Pilgrimage