And so it has begun, quietly and in the rain. There can be little doubt that Pope John Paul's arrival in Israel, a land God "chose as his own" as he described it last night, was a deeply significant moment for him. Only a desire which touches on the elemental would have driven such an obviously ill and exhausted man as he appeared last night to put himself through what seemed an ordeal.
He did not look well yesterday. At Mass in the morning at Amman's sports stadium he was obviously exhausted. He stopped to cough a number of times during his homily and at Communion seemed just to go through the motions, with a young priest holding a chalice as he distributed the host to only a few communicants.
But he was determined to be here. He said in Amman he had been looking forward to being a pilgrim in the Holy Land during the year 2000 since he became Bishop of Rome in 1978. It says a lot about him that he should harbour and expect to fulfil such an ambition 22 years ago, when he was already 58. That he has done so says even more and underlines the view that what has kept him going through his years of struggle with infirmity has been that ambition.
But following in the footsteps of Jesus is not what it's about entirely. No Pope in history has done more to acknowledge and attempt to correct the horrors Christendom and the Catholic Church have perpetrated on the Jewish people throughout 2,000 years. His doing so has as many political implications as it has religious and spiritual ones.
The presence of Israel's President and Prime Minister on the tarmac at Tel Aviv airport last night underlined that political element. As did his own words. He spoke again of the urgent need for peace in the region, and referred explicitly to the Vatican's opening of diplomatic relations with Israel in 1994.
With this new-found openness towards one another, "Christians and Jews together must make courageous efforts to remove all forms of prejudice," he said.
With particular emphasis he continued: "We must strive always and everywhere to present the true face of the Jews and of Judaism, as likewise of Christians and Christianity, and this at every level of attitude, teaching and communication." Welcoming him, President Weizmann expressed the Jewish people's appreciation of Pope John Paul's "contribution to condemning anti-Semitism by labelling it as a sin against God and humanity and by the request for forgiveness for deeds carried out in the past by representatives of the church against the Jewish people."
They were, he said, "mindful of the new emphasis in Catholic religious teaching that calls for acknowledging the Jewish roots of Christianity and recognising the Jewish people as it defines itself." Words like "mindful" and talk of the Pope's "contribution to condemning anti-Semitism" are hardly likely to set the world on fire. Or Rome-Israel relations for that matter.
Significantly, President Weizmann continued: "It is important for the men and women in the church to also become familiar with the modern Israeli, the state of Israel as the spiritual centre of the Jewish people where Jews, Muslims, Christians, together with people of other faiths, live together in peace and harmony."
The President's formal, even stand-offish, tone was reflected in the streets of Jerusalem last night. Yes, there were papal and Israeli flags and one sign reading simply, "Jerusalem welcomes Pope John Paul II". But absent totally were banners proclaiming effusive affection such as were everywhere in Amman.
This tired Pope has a lot of work to do here.