Pope Benedict XVI leads a mass in Kidron Valley outside east Jerusalem, 12 May 2009Pope Benedict has celebrated an outdoor mass in the valley of Kidron near Jerusalem.

The site is near the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified.

Earlier Tuesday, he visited sites that are sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims, including the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City. He became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to enter the sacred Islamic shrine.

The pontiff arrived Tuesday at the hilltop known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The pope took off his shoes before entering the Dome of the Rock, as is custom when entering a Muslim holy place.

The area is both Judaism's holiest site and Islam's third-holiest. It is a significant point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both groups demanding ownership.

Pope Benedict later prayed below the mosque at the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. The structure is a top pilgrimage destination for Jews, and includes remnants of a retaining wall that helped support Jerusalem's Second Temple, built about 2,030 years ago.

Pope Benedict is on a five-day visit to the Holy Land. He also met with an assembly of Catholic bishops at the place where Christians say Jesus is believed to have held the Last Supper.

On Monday, the pope's first day in Israel, he called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The pope will meet with Palestinian officials later this week.

This visit to the Middle East is Benedict's first as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.