POPE Benedict XVI arrived in Jordan today on his first visit as pontiff to an Arab state, kicking off an eight-day Holy Land pilgrimage fraught with religious and political challenges.
King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania were waiting to give a red carpet welcome to the pontiff at Amman's Queen Alia airport, where hundreds of Christians, many sporting T-shirts bearing the portraits of the king and the pope, had also gathered.
Jordan's elite royal guard and army forces were posted along the road to the airport, 30 kilometres south of the capital, where the pontiff was later to travel for the first stop on a crowded itinerary, a visit to the Regina Pacis centre for the handicapped in Amman.
The capital itself was festooned with Jordanian and Vatican flags while television stations ran live coverage of the arrival.
Benedict, who has said he is going as a "pilgrim of peace", is to divide his visit between Jordan and Israel, with a stop in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.
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