The newspaper contrasts the present visit with the visit in 1964 by Pope Paul VI, who did not utter the word "Israel" once.
One of Israel's leading dailies Haaretz sees the visit as an expression of greater international respect for the country.
It hails the Pontiff as a "popular hero venerated around the world", and adds that his unique contribution is "the interaction he has fostered between the Church and the world around it".
The newspaper contrasts the present visit with the visit in 1964 by Pope Paul VI, who did not utter the word "Israel" once.
On this occasion "the Pope is conducting a state visit to the Jewish state replete with every symbol of pomp and protocol".
Haaretz adds that Israel's "successes have made a significant contribution to freeing the Vatican from dogmas and prejudices about Jews and Judaism.
"And even if not all the expectations are met, the influence of his visit - both religious and political - will continue to make itself felt long after his momentous trip to the Holy Land," the paper concludes.
Speaking to the English-language Jerusalem Post Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg welcomed the Pope's recent apology for the past acts of the Church, but said the visit was more about the future.
"It can do nothing for my grandmother who perished in the Holocaust," said Mr Burg.
Instead, he expects the visit to be a "seed out of which the plants of world reconciliation between Jews and those who don't like Jews will grow".
On the first day of the Pope's visit, the Tel Aviv paper Maariv stressed the "profound interdenominational significance" of the visit.
The Jerusalem Post says the Pope's arrival heralds "the near culmination of the incredible journey of the Catholic Church towards the Jewish People and Israel", but urges greater movement on the part of the Vatican.
"The political revolution in Vatican-Israel relations exemplified by the pope's visit should not end with the fact of the visit, but should continue with the political equivalent of a change in theology.
"Though the Vatican no longer speaks of internationalising Jerusalem, neither has it fully recognised Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital," the paper says.
The leader of the Hamas movement, Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, agrees that the visit has both religious and political importance, but insists the Vatican must take the opportunity to back the Palestinian cause.
"We are under occupation, Jerusalem is usurped, and the settlements are built here and there. We are a besieged and dispersed people abroad and our land and country have been usurped," he tells the London-based Arabic paper al-Quds.
"The required role from the Pope is to announce his position and support for the wronged and vanquished people and to call for lifting this injustice that has been inflicted upon us by the Zionist movement and the Israelis," the shaikh says.
In the English-language Jordan Times, the Jordanian commentator Rami Khouri commends the Pope for achieving "symmetry of symbolism and statement" in what many have called the political minefield of his trip.
"Visits to symbols of the very different kinds of Palestinian and Jewish historical and current suffering - the Dheisheh Palestinian refugee camp and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial - send a clear and strong message: He gives equal time and moral empathy to the people of Israel and Palestine," Khouri writes.
The role of Arab Christians - their "spiritual link" between the Jewish and Muslim values - is also highlighted by Khouri.
"The Pope's visit clarifies the many linkages between personal human spirituality, the prophetic traditions that emanate from this blessed land of ours and the obligation to continue working for justice" not just for some nations but for all.