“Only with people, with community” will the Holy Land remain holy, says Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the region’s Roman Catholic leader. But the number of Christians in Israel and the West Bank is declining at an alarming rate.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims have a sacred connection to the city of Jerusalem, says author James Carroll, and “that sacred connection, even though at the present moment it’s a source of contention, is actually a profound source of union.”

Violence in Jerusalem is no surprise, according to writer James Carroll, “because that’s the human story. The great thing about Jerusalem is it’s a place where the human story gets transcended.”

Located in Jerusalem's Old City near the Damascus Gate, this children's charity traces its roots to 19th-century American evangelicals Horatio and Anna Spafford. Together they established a philanthropic and utopian Christian community that was known as the American Colony.

It was a week of prayers and pleas for peace and gestures of reconciliation to all sides in the Holy Land.

Visit our interactive map for a closer look at some of the places Pope Benedict XVI is visiting in Jerusalem during his pilgrimage to the Middle East.

"I don't think any of us are under any illusions that we're going to solve the peace problem, but we also realize that you can't have peace without religious leaders," says former US ambassador Tony Hall.