LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Overseas now, Pope John Paul II has arrived in Egypt. It is his first visit to the country that has such deep ties to several world religions. The Vatican insists the trip is strictly a personal pilgrimage, but the Pope has meetings scheduled with Orthodox and Coptic clergymen while he is there. Correspondent Ben Wedeman joins us live from Cairo with more on the papal visit -- Ben.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Leon, this visit is being seen as very significant here in Egypt, despite the fact that the Vatican has made it clear, or has stated, that it is a purely spiritual visit. However, many people here are seeing it as an attempt to build bridges, to build bridges with one of the -- this is one of the Arab world's most populous country's, one of the Muslim world's most populous countries, a center of Muslim learning, and therefore his trip is being seen as an attempt to build a -- build bridges, to put the past behind. One intellectual told me the other day that this is an attempt to put the Crusades behind, a crusade that the Catholic Church played a very large role in. At the same time, it's an attempt to build bridges with the Coptic Orthodox church which broke from Rome more than 1,500 years ago. And in this regard, the Pope today will be meeting with the head of the Al-Azhar University, which is one of Islam's leading centers of learning, also he will be meeting with the Coptic pope this evening. Tomorrow, he will be holding an open-air mass with the Roman Catholic community here, which is relatively small, only about 250,000 people; that's one in every 250 Egyptians. The following day, he'll be going out to the Sinai Peninsula to the monastery of St. Catherine, which is at the foot of the mountain where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. So it's a very significant visit from many respects. I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting live from Cairo.</s>HARRIS: All right, thank you, Ben.
Pope John Paul II Makes Historic Visit to Egypt