The Pope contemplates the challenges ahead. He will make pilgrimages to Bible scenes and promote harmony with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

The Pope, at 79, is too frail to kneel and kiss the ground in his traditional practice. Instead, Egyptian children brought him a container of soil to kiss.

A helping hand for the Pope from the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The Pope said he wanted to pray in places where God had intervened in history.

This is the 90th foreign trip for the Pope during his 22 years at the Vatican, and he has appeared to find some previous trips gruelling. President Mubarak praised his courage.

A woman leads Egyptian Christian schoolchildren in celebrating as they wait for the Pope's motorcade to pass by. Copts make up 10% of the country's population.

A handshake with the senior Sunni Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi. The Pope says he will pray intensely for inter-religious peace at Mount Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments.