After a rather long period of discernment over the appropriateness and timing of the visit, Pope Benedict XVI is finally travelling the ancient way of pilgrims to the Holy Land. However, despite the Pope's intention to behave like an ordinary and humble pilgrim, everybody knows he is no ordinary pilgrim. The political implications of his pilgrimage are all too obvious.
It is precisely the pilgrimage's combination of spiritual and political elements that will help the Pope achieve the goal of this controversial pilgrimage.
For, if the Pope intends to help bring peace to the region, it is hard to imagine that a purely political gesture on his part would help, given the sparks of controversy he has provoked in the past among Muslims and Jews.
Furthermore, politics is just one dimension of papal office. The other one, arguably more important, is spiritual. That is why the Pope can rightly understand himself as a humble pilgrim.
His display of humility should particularly help his cause, given the opposition and demand from some groups. It has still to be seen how he will express his humility during his visits and talks, especially to Muslim and Jewish sites and figures.
By deciding to come at this troubled time, the Pope exposes himself to many difficult and challenging demands in the complexity of the peace process in the region. It is challenging to strike a delicate balance amid different pleas and demands in the region. Arab Christians in Gaza demands the focus of the pontiff's prime attention, due to their suffering during the war.
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