VATICAN CITY: (Innovative Media, Inc.) - The United Nations Conference on the "Bethlehem 2000" project, which ended this week at the FAO headquarters in Rome, was the common denominator of two papal audiences.

Yasser Arafat, president of the National Palestinian Authority, came to Rome for the opening of the conference and to address aspects of the "Bethlehem 2000" project, an ambitious program financed by the European Union, the United Nations, and several governments and private entities.

The Bethlehem project will build the infrastructure necessary to transform the city of Jesus' birth into an attractive place for the pilgrims of the Jubilee.

Arafat expressed his satisfaction with the idea, although he emphasized that Bethlehem is still not a free city; it continues to be surrounded by old and new Jewish settlements. Arafat reiterated his invitation to the pontiff to visit Bethlehem, where the pope's presence is greatly anticipated. John Paul II accepted the invitation, which was first made during the Palestinian president's last visit. This was Arafat's seventh visit to the Holy See. His first was in 1982, and his most recent visit was last June.