Another triumph for Pope John Paul! Or is it? A remarkable feature of this Pope is the effect his physical presence has on people. Even the most recalcitrant opponents seem to relent when he arrives among them.
It was evident in atheistic Cuba in 1998 when a suspicious people gradually warmed to this ailing, fierce-willed old man, as he traversed their country over a gruelling week which ended in the great celebration that was his Mass in Havana, with Fidel Castro in the front row.
It was evident in Egypt last year when the Coptic Pope, Shenouda III, who had refused to go to the airport to meet him, embraced John Paul later that evening at his palace in Cairo. He, like so many others, had been convinced by the Pope's words and demeanour as broadcast from the airport.
In Jerusalem, in March of last year, he overcame deeply felt Jewish resentment at his refusal to condemn the silence of Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust. He did so in extraordinary fashion. Not just by his seeking forgiveness for Christian persecution of the Jews, nor by his emotion at the Yad Vashim Holocaust Hall, but by a simple and unexpected deed at the Western Wall on the last day of his visit.
With the dramatic instinct of a former playwright-actor, he prayed as a Jew and left his prayer, as a Jew would, in a crevice of that wall, knowing the power of act and symbol in the right place at the right time.
Israeli television rebroadcast the moment again and again, his right hand quivering as he briefly rested it on the wall. That evening the entire Israeli cabinet and the President turned out for what became a long farewell at Jerusalem's airport.
It could hardly have been in greater contrast to his reception four days earlier, which was polite, muted and perfunctory. That in turn was in marked contrast to the warmth of the reception he received in Jordan just days before. There young King Hassan, fresh from a pilgrimage to Mecca, spoke warmly about the closeness of the historic relationship between his family and the Papacy.
Indeed, and as in Egypt a month earlier and Syria last Saturday, this Pope has been warmly welcomed by Muslims in whatever Islamic country he has visited. His problems have been with fellow-Christians.
Such as the Orthodox Christians. As in Athens last Friday when the streets were deserted on his arrival and no Orthodox Church leader went to the airport to greet him. And where his visit was met with great resistance and continuing opposition as it took place.
And as in Sinai in February of last year, where the Greek Orthodox monks refused him permission to conduct a service in their monastery. After a formal greeting, they withdrew rather than take part with him in a service he conducted in the monastery garden.
And yet the response of the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, to the Pope last Friday was more than many would have expected. "The Pope has been very kind to us," he said, after applauding the Pontiff's words seeking forgiveness for the sins of the "sons and daughters" of the Catholic Church against Orthodox Christians. But, the Archbishop continued, there was "much work to be done".
However, the presence of so many Greek Orthodox Christians at papal events in Damascus yesterday suggests that a lot of work has been done. With Archbishop Christodoulos visiting Moscow at the moment, the Vatican will be hoping he will pass on a positive message about the Greek visit to the Russian Orthodox leadership, helping to clear the way for a papal visit to Russia. Something Pope John Paul very much wants to do.
A particular feature of this Papacy has been an overt anxiety to improve relations with Orthodox Christianity. This is much more evident than appears to be its concern at improving relations with the Reformed churches of the West and probably betrays something of the Pope's greater experience in eastern Europe.
But how real are these exercises in rapprochement with other Christians and other religions? How lasting is the impact of his charisma and physical presence?
Our own experience would suggest it is a temporary phenomenon. After the euphoria of 1979 we have had le deluge where the Catholic Church in Ireland is concerned. The trends of decline were there already. They may have been stalled briefly, but they then resumed with a vengeance. Similarly with the long-term effects of his visits elsewhere.
For instance, much of the good done by his visit to Israel last year was undone in the Dominus Iesus document published with his approval last September by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Of followers of all other religions it said: "It is also certain that objectively speaking [its emphasis] they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation."
A meeting he had planned for October last with members of the Jewish community in Rome was cancelled as a result of that statement. It also upset Muslims, who had difficulty squaring it with his words about all (Christians, Jews, Muslims) being sons and daughters of Abraham.
And Dominus Iesus's "clarification" that "the Church of Christ, despite the divisions which exist among Christians, continues to fully exist only in the Catholic Church", offended all other Christians, not least those in the Orthodox churches, whose differences with Rome revolve around the issue of papal authority.
In the light of this it is fair to ask just how "real" have been the words of Pope John Paul this weekend in Athens and Damascus. How "real" are they in Rome?
And while properly preaching tolerance and respect to the various sides in the Middle East, would it not be far more powerful to lead by example? As in practising respect as well as tolerance where other Christian denominations and religions are concerned.