Bethlehem, West Bank  - Bethlehem was set to welcome Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday for a landmark visit to the Palestinian territories.

A large poster of the pontiff as well as a Palestinian flag dangled from the municipal building on the biblical town's central Manger Square, which was filled with white plastic chairs ahead of a Mass the Pope is to lead late in the morning.

Nuns in white dresses; boy and girl scouts in uniforms; foreign Catholic pilgrims, many of whom were speaking Spanish; and journalists packed the narrow alleyways leading up to the square, crowding in front of metal detectors.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to receive Benedict at his Bethlehem presidential palace shortly before 9 am (0600 GMT), after which the pope is to travel to Manger Square for the Mass.

In the early afternoon, Benedict is scheduled to pray privately at the Grotto of the Nativity in the Church of the Nativity, where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus was born and which is one of the holiest sites in Christendom.

The pontiff is then to tour the local Caritas Baby Hospital before visiting the nearby Aida refugee camp, a visit considered by local Palestinians as one of the highlights of his one-day stopover in the Palestinian autonomous areas. He was expected to address the camp's 5,000 refugees from the courtyard of the local UN-run school.

Benedict is the hold a courtesy meeting with Abbas in the early evening before returning to Jerusalem. (dpa)