Nazareth, Israel - Pope Benedict XVI journeyed to Nazareth Thursday, to spend what an aide described as a "very important" day in the company of local Christians, and to urge an end to Muslim- Christian tensions in the city where Jesus Christ spent his boyhood.

The pontiff also held a private meeting with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and an inter-faith meeting with Catholic, Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Druze and Jewish religious leaders.

Delivering a homily at a morning mass on a hilltop overlooking the ancient city, Benedict asked Muslims and Christians in Nazareth to overcome recent tensions and live together peacefully.

He urged "people of goodwill in both communities to repair the damage that has been done, and ... to work to build bridges and find the way to a peaceful coexistence."

Nazareth is Israel's largest Arab town and the centre of the Galilee region, where the majority of the country's 150,000 Christians live.

Tensions between the two communities in the town erupted earlier this decade over a plaza built for the visit of Pope John Paul II and the erection of an unauthorised mosque next to the Church of the Annunciation. The church is a key Christian holy site which marks the spot where the angel Gabriel told Mary she was to give birth to Jesus Christ.

Israel, which at first gave permission for the mosque to be built, angering Christians, later ordered it removed, angering Muslims.

Most of Benedict's homily at the Mass was, however, devoted to the theme of family, with the pontiff saying that a visit to Nazareth offered a chance to "contemplate ever anew the silence and love of the Holy Family, the model of all Christian family life."

"Here, in the example of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, we come to appreciate even more fully the sacredness of the family, which in God's plan is based on the lifelong fidelity of a man and a woman consecrated by the marriage covenant and accepting of God's gift of new life," he said.

The Mass, held on the Mount of Precipice, where according to Saint Luke, an angry mob tried to hurl Jesus to his death, was the largest of the pope's five day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Benedict raised his hand in benediction as the popemobile, flanked by security men in dark suits and followed by dozens of blue- uniformed policemen, slowly made its way to the podium at Mount Precipice.

Many of the crowd applauded as the popemobile passed, others joyously waved Vatican flags, or flags of other nations, including that of Israel.

The amphitheatre at Mount Precipice, constructed especially for the event, was ringed with heavy security. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said 5,000 policemen were to secure the Mass, and a total of 8,000 would be deployed in Nazareth.

The Mass at the mount, he said, was "the biggest and most significant event, in terms of size and scope, of the entire (papal) visit."

Police put the number of worshippers present as 31,000, the mayor of Nazareth said it was 50,000.

"This day is very important because it is the largest celebration with Christians in the Holy Land," Papal Spokesman Father Frederico Lombardi said.

"It's a feast for the city of Nazareth," said mayor Ramiz Jaraisy. "(For) hundreds of millions who could not arrive at Nazareth - Nazareth arrived this day in their homes, their houses, their salons, their computers, their TV sets."

Following the Mass, Benedict returned to Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation, where he had his mid-afternoon meeting with Netanyahu.

Lombardi said that the personal contact engendered by the meeting was "important," since it would give the pontiff the opportunity to "know (the) person and not only through the news press."

And in the early evening, Benedict hosted an interfaith meeting attended by around 200 Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Druze, Muslims and Jews.

"The Muslim has become a suspect for his mere name, and the Christian's motives are doubted because of his mere words, and the Jew faces anger for his mere entity," Mohammed Abu Obeid, the judge of Nazareth's muslim court, told the pope.

During his five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, which began Monday, Benedict has met Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, toured sites holy to all three monotheistic religions, and visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem.

On Friday he is slated to meet with church leaders and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, before returning to Rome.