Pope Benedict is poised to make some history when he visits the Holy Land this spring, according to the Associated Press:

Pope Benedict XVI will show solidarity with Jews and Muslims during his first papal trip to the Holy Land with visits to Jerusalem’s Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, the papal envoy in Jerusalem said Tuesday.

Benedict announced this week that he would visit in May. His presence could help ease the sometimes rocky relations between the Vatican and Israel, and between the Vatican and Muslims.

It will be his first official visit to the region since he became pope in 2005.

Archbishop Antonio Franco, the papal nuncio in Jerusalem, said visits to key Jewish and Muslim holy sites would be on the pope’s agenda. The Dome of the Rock is one of Islam’s most sacred shrines, and the nearby Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

“The intent of the Holy Father’s visit is to express his solidarity and closeness to the people of Israel and Palestine, and through them all the people of this region,” Franco said.

Over at Commonweal, Paul Moses adds some more context to the visit to the Dome of the Rock:

This will be an instance in which Benedict ventures a little further than Pope John Paul II did in relations with Muslims – John Paul stood outside the shrine when he visited Jerusalem in 2000, but did not enter it.

The background story of this breathtaking, 1,300-year-old shrine was very much in the foreground that day, as I recall. A group of Palestinian demonstrators had gotten quite close to the pope and his entourage, shouting insults at the Palestinian officials who hosted John Paul. “Shame on you!” one of the demonstrators yelled. “Saladin took the keys; now you have handed them over to the pope.”

The Dome of the Rock has long figured in the contentious relations between Muslims and Christians. It was built large enough to outshine the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and it contains large inscriptions that denounce the central beliefs of Christianity. Saladin won it back from the Crusaders in 1187.

So it will be an interesting moment when a pope who was once the subject of angry demonstrations in many Muslim countries enters the Dome of the Rock – an important gesture on the part of the pope and his host, the grand mufti of Jersualem.

I’m wondering: will this mark the first time a pope has actually entered the Dome of the Rock?