VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI may visit the Holy Land next year, a Vatican spokesman said.

Benedict, who has expressed his desire to visit the Holy Land, has a long-standing invitation from Israel. But a tax dispute and other issues have so far prevented a visit, and the two sides are also at odds over the conduct of wartime Pope Pius XII.

A trip to the area would be expected to include a visit to the Palestinian territories.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that "diplomatic contacts are under way to study the possibility of a visit by the Holy Father to the Holy Land next year."

Lombardi declined to comment on any possible dates, saying contacts were still at an early stage.

The office of Israeli President Shimon Peres also said the two sides were working on the issue, with no dates set.

The Holy See and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1994, after hundreds of years of painful relations between Catholicism and Judaism. But they must still resolve the status of expropriated church property, tax exemptions for the Church and permits for Arab Christian clergy traveling to and around the West Bank.

The late Pope John Paul II visited the Holy Land in 2000. He met with Israeli officials and with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.