[excerpts:]
JERUSALEM, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land has appealed to Israel to lift regulations hindering access to Christian shrines for pilgrims and Palestinians as the millennium year approaches.
Millions of Christian pilgrims are expected to stream to Israel for the millennium. Several of the sites most sacred to Christians are in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, areas often affected by Israeli security measures.
`We ask for total and free access to all the Holy Places for both local and universal visitors and pilgrims,' the Catholic Latin Patriarchate said in a statement released on Monday.
`We have also received complaints from many pilgrims regarding airport security arrangements, which in many cases humiliate people,' he said, adding that even arriving Church officials had come under close scrutiny by authorities.