The growing interest in Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land is, in part, due to the hopes that he will enhance expectations. Owing to the homilies he frequently renders, expectations are high. While the visit is a religious pilgrimage, he undoubtedly — in his characteristic subtle and provocative manner — seeks to heal residual wounds and affirm the priority of just resolutions to ongoing crises.

His direct flight from Amman to Bethlehem represents both the priority of visiting the birthplace of Jesus and avoiding flying through Israel as a symbolic lift to the Palestinians.

To Pope Francis, this move is a gesture toward the downtrodden, whose national and social rights are denied, but it is also a signal to the world that he is visiting the birthplace of Jesus. Pope Francis is communicating the morality of his strategic assessments by sending subtle signals that define his ethical commitments to [upholding] what is right and wrong.

The gesture of arriving first in Bethlehem was a clear recognition of the November 2012 UN General Assembly resolution that upgraded Palestine’s status as the State of Palestine.