Rome  - Communist dictator Joseph Stalin once asked sarcastically: "The Pope? How many (military) divisions has he got?"

As it turned out, the Iron Curtain that Stalin helped erect, eventually crumbled - not in the least thanks to Pope John Paul II's efforts who inspired some of the pro-democratic dissent in his native, Catholic Poland.

But as the number of Christians living in the Holy Land continues to dwindle, sceptics are wondering how many members does the Catholic Church have in the area to allow Pope Benedict XVI to add his weight to peace efforts there?

Diplomatic initiatives by the Vatican have included trying to secure international status for Jerusalem, a city revered by followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

But the proposal has been mostly rejected by Israelis and Palestinians who continue to stake rival claims on Jerusalem as their political capital.

Not surprisingly given dashed past ambitions as peacebroker, the Vatican is describing Benedict's May 8-15 trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories as a non-political religious pilgrimage.

The pontiff's visit will give Christians "hope and support in difficult times in a land where they are a minority," said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri who heads the Vatican's Congregation for Oriental Churches.

But observers stress Benedict is strongly aware that a continued presence of Christians in the Holy Land and across the Middle East, ultimately rests on a just political solution to end violence.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is political, but it takes on religious overtones," said Adnane Mokrani, a professor at the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University.

"Benedict, as the world's most important Christian leader can send a powerful message of reconciliation by engaging with both Muslims and Jews on their own turf, showing that dialogue is possible," Mokrani told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview.

In December 2006 the sight of Benedict praying inside Istanbul's Blue Mosque with the country's top Muslim cleric by his side, defused many tensions triggered earlier in the year when, in speech in Germany, the pontiff appeared to associate Islam with violence.

Since then, Jordan's Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought has led initiatives aimed at avoiding future misunderstandings between Muslim and Christians.

These included the Catholic-Muslim Forum of experts and clerics that held its first historic talks in Rome in November 2008.

Mokrani, a Muslim member of the Forum, believes that during his stop-over in Jordan, the pontiff can further the process of mutual overtures.

"He can make a strong concrete gesture," during talks with Muslim leaders at the Al-Hussein bin-Talal Mosque. A gesture building on the "symbolic one" in Istanbul, Mokrani said.

In its relations with Jews, the Catholic Church is emerging from one of its worst crises in recent times, provoked by Benedict's pardoning earlier this year of four ultra-traditionalist renegade bishops, including one who is a Holocaust-denier.

Heavily criticized, the German-born Benedict later reiterated his condemnation of the Holocaust. He also said the bishops would only be fully reinstated once they accept modern-day Catholic teachings that ended age-old hostilities towards Jews.

Most Jewish leaders welcomed Benedict's response. Israel renewed a invite for him to visit the country.

By accepting, Benedict demonstrated "respect for the Jewish state, reinforcing the impact of the pioneering visit of his predecessor," a leading US Jewish Rabbi David Rosen wrote in a recent edition of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

Still, unresolved issues remain, suggesting Benedict's impact is unlikely to match that made when John Paul in 2000 left a hand-written note apologizing for Christian anti-Semitism at Jerusalem's Western Wall.

Symbols, gestures and words have had a make-or-break effect at least with the media, on some of Benedicts previous trips.

His announcement he would meet victims of sexual abuses by priests set the tone for what was generally seen as a successful US visit in APril 2008.

In contrast, his apparent suggestion that pro-abortion lawmakers should be excommunicated and that condoms may actually help the spread of Aids, caused negative media uproar that dominated recent trips to Brazil and Africa.

In Jerusalem, a potentially evocative image would be that of Benedict - who grew up in Nazi Germany and as a teen was drafted into the Hitler Youth - visiting the Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vashem.

But that moment scheduled for May 11 could be marred by Benedict's plan not to visit the adjacent museum.

Displayed inside is a photo of World War II pontiff Pius XII accompanied by a caption implying he remained silent during the Nazi persecution of Jews - a view the Vatican strongly disputes. (dpa)