Pope Benedict XVI has called for a sovereign Palestinian homeland in a Bethlehem public address that began his one-day visit to the West Bank.
On a visit to a nearby refugee camp, he expressed regret over Israel's construction of the separation barrier; a section of the barrier fortified by an Israeli military watchtower provided a stark backdrop as he spoke.
Earlier in the day, thousands of Palestinian Christians and Muslims attended the mass in Manger Square, chanting welcomes in Arabic and shouting "Viva Papa, viva Palestina!" Many wore baseball caps in the papal yellow and white colours that were distributed to the crowd. The square, like the pope's mass yesterday in Jerusalem, was not full, with Palestinians blaming over-zealous Israeli security for keeping many away.
The pope set the tone of the day as soon as he arrived, proclaiming: "The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your fathers, secure and at peace with its neighbours, within internationally recognised borders."
The mass was interrupted by applause when he offered his prayers and sympathy to the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.
His speech, at the palace of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, answered Palestinians' hopes that he would use the visit to one of the most sacred sites in Christendom, the birthplace of Jesus, to highlight their plight under Israeli occupation.
"I know how much you have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the turmoil that has afflicted this land for decades. My heart goes out to all the families who have lost so much," he said
In a visit a refugee camp to meet families who fled or were forced out of their homes on the foundation of Israel in 1948 he urged young Palestinians to "have the courage to resist any temptation to resort to acts of violence or terrorism." It was his first direct mention of terrorism since he arrived in Jordan last Friday on a weeklong Holy Land pilgrimage aimed at inspiring peace and strengthening frayed ties with Muslims and Jews. At the Aida refugee camp, the pope said it was understandable that Palestinians feel frustrated.
"Their legitimate aspirations for permanent homes, for an independent Palestinian state, remain unfilled," he said.
He reached Bethlehem on the third day of his tour of the Holy Land, travelling through the snaking security barrier that now separates it from nearby Jerusalem.
He was met by Abbas, who called it Israel's "apartheid wall" and described it as an attempt by the Jewish state to drive out Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike.
The pope continued the theme when he celebrated mass in Manger Square, next to the Church of the Nativity where a star in the floor marks the spot where Christians believe Christ was born in a stable.
There was applause when he expressed sympathy for the sufferings of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli offensive in January. Some had managed to get through the security cordons to attend his mass.
"My heart goes out to the pilgrims from war-torn Gaza," he said. "Please be assured of my solidarity with you in the immense work of rebuilding which now lies ahead, and my prayers that the embargo will soon be lifted."
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, speaking in English from the platform beside the pope, said only peace could halt the sharp decline in the Christian Palestinian population: "Our people are still suffering, from injustice, from war, from occupation, from lack of trust and lack of hope for a better future."
Much of the town was closed off by security forces, as crowds gathered in Manger Square.
The pope's visit to the Palestinian territories comes a day after the Vatican was forced to defend him as a man of strong anti-Nazi credentials and a peacemaker following a row over his membership as a teenager of the Hitler Youth.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said the pontiff had "never, never, never" belonged to the organisation.
But his remark appeared to contradict the pope's own words in his 1997 memoirs, Salt of the Earth, that he was "registered in the HY [Hitler Youth]".
Lombardi tried to make a distinction between the anti-aircraft auxiliary corps the pope was enrolled in towards the end of the war and the Hitler Youth. Later he was forced to concede that Benedict had indeed been forced to join the Nazi organisation.
On Monday the pope delivered an emotional address at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, saying the cry of those killed by the regime he grew up under "still echoes in our hearts". But moments later, Yad Vashem's top two officials criticised him for failing to use the words "Nazis" or "murder" in his speech.
"One would have expected the Vatican's cardinals to prepare a more intelligent text for their boss," the columnist Tom Segev wrote in the Ha'aretz daily newspaper.
Lombardi said the pope mentioned his German roots in 2005 when visiting a synagogue in Cologne, Germany, and at the Auschwitz death camp the following year.
"He can't mention everything every time he speaks," Lombardi told reporters in Jerusalem.
Despite the controversies, the pope was warmly welcomed at every stop by Israeli dignitaries, Muslim clerics and Christian followers, who clamoured to greet him as he travelled in his popemobile.
The pope yesterday visited the Dome of the Rock, where Muslims believe the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, and the adjacent Western Wall, revered by Jews as a remnant of the biblical temple compound in Jerusalem.
Competing claims to the hilltop compound‚ known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount‚ have sparked violence in the past. Resolving the dispute has been the most intractable issue during more than 15 years of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
The papal visit included a private meeting with the top Islamic cleric in the Holy Land. Hussein, the grand mufti, said afterwards that he told the pope of the Palestinians' suffering "and we asked for justice in this Holy Land".
He handed the pope a letter urging the Vatican to use its influence to end Israel's "aggression" against the Palestinians. Asked how the pope responded, he replied: "We felt he was receptive."
At the Dome of the Rock – the most sacred Muslim shrine in Jerusalem and part of the compound that is Islam's third holiest site – the pope removed his red shoes as a sign of respect before entering. A priest helped him slip them back on as he left.
At the Western Wall, the pope inserted a note between the ancient crevices of Judaism's holiest shrine, a retaining wall of the second of two biblical temples.
The written blessing asked "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" to "hear the cry of the afflicted, the fearful, the bereft; send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family".
Later, the pope told Israel's two chief rabbis that the Roman Catholic church was "irrevocably committed" to "a genuine and lasting reconciliation between Christians and Jews".