US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is to travel to Rome this week to confer with the Vatican on the Middle East peace process, particularly the status of Jerusalem, the State Department said Sunday.

Albright, who was originally scheduled to return to the United States on Monday after visits to Thailand and Japan, will instead fly to Rome for talks with Vatican secretary for foreign relations, Monsignor Jean-Louis Tauran.

The abrupt change in schedule will allow Albright on Tuesday to bring Tauran up to date on the Middle East peace process, focusing on ideas for the holy city's future raised at the failed Camp David summit, spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"This has been an area of great interest to the Vatican," Boucher said, noting in particular Pope John Paul II's calls for Jerusalem to be granted special status in any peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Their view is quite well known and we do keep in mind the views of others as we proceed in this," he told reporters traveling with Albright.

The secretary's meeting with Tauran will come exactly a week after the Camp David summit collapsed over the question of Jerusalem, which both Israel and the Palestinians claim as a capital.

It will also coincide with the beginning of a marathon tour of the Arab world by US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Edward Walker, who is to visit at least 12 Muslim countries to drum up support for a compromise on Jerusalem.

"This is one of those times we want to keep interested parties up to date," Boucher said.

The city -- home to the most holy sites in the world's main monotheistic religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism -- is the main issue separating Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Arafat is demanding Palestinian sovereignty over east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations, which he wants as the capital of an independent state he says he will declare by mid-September with or without a peace pact.

But Barak insists the entire city remain undivided and under Israeli sovereignty although he has offered the Palestinians autonomy, short of sovereignty, in Arab neighborhoods.

During the Camp David summit the Pope urged negotiators to find a solution in which Jerusalem is protected by international safeguards that "effectively preserve the most sacred parts of the Holy City and guarantee religious freedom for all the faithful in the region and the world."

The Vatican has for years demanded that Jerusalem's future status include international guarantees to preserve its sacred nature and a senior State Department official said Albright would be discussing with Tuaran a variety of options considered at Camp David.

"We want to probe their view in more detail and generally discuss with them the status of Jerusalem and the kinds of ideas out there," the official said, declining to discuss specifics of any suggestions that were raised.

Boucher's announcement of the Albright-Tauran meeting followed statements by Camp David host, US President Bill Clinton, which were supportive of the Israeli view of Jerusalem, and as Arafat continued an international tour to build support for his position.

In an interview wit Israeli television on Friday, Clinton praised Barak's "courageous" efforts at the 15-day summit and said Washington's embassy could be shifted from Tel Aviv to west Jerusalem by the end of the year.

Clinton has continually put off that move, required by US law, by using a presidential waiver to avoid interfering with the ongoing peace process, and his statements have led to accusations in Arab countries that he had damaged Washington's credibility as an "honest broker" in the talks.

He also warned Arafat against going ahead with his vow to unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood on September 13.

Meanwhile, Arafat, under pressure in Arab capitals not to concede on his demands for Jerusalem, arrived in Saudi Arabia from France on Sunday, continuing his quest for support for his stand.

In Paris on Saturday Arafat reiterated his position, saying he would declare an independent state "when the time is right, taking into consideration the advice of our friends."

"Under normal circumstances, the deadline is September, in a few weeks," he said.