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• Standing alongside Abbas, Francis declared: "The time has come to put an end to this situation which has become increasingly unacceptable."
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• JERUSALEM (AP) -- Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians could not have chosen a more fitting meeting place to promote Christian unity on Sunday than the Jerusalem holy site where their churches' centuries-old rivalries and machinations play out every day.
• The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the pope will meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in the central event of his Holy Land trip, marks the spot where Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
• A 12th century building sitting on 4th century remains, it is one of the world's oldest churches and the only place where six Christian denominations practice their faith at the same site. To a visitor, its dark, medieval caverns can seem to be a chaotic jumble of clergymen, chapels and candles.
• But invisible border lines run through the building, carving out property rights from the roof all the way down to the underground plumbing, and every lamp, column and manhole in between. Scuffles erupt about twice a year when monks overstep their bounds.
• "It's kind of scandalous," said the Rev. Juan Solana, a Vatican envoy in Jerusalem, who said he considered the Holy Sepulcher Christianity's most important site. "The wounds of the church are very much evident there."
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration's decision to allow more veterans to get care at private hospitals could take some pressure off backlogged Veterans Affairs facilities struggling to cope with new patients from the wars on terrorism as well as old soldiers from prior conflicts.
• Agreeing to recommendations from lawmakers, the administration said Saturday it will allow more veterans to obtain treatment at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to improve care.

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