The Vatican’s Secretary of State made a dramatic revelation ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to Israel next Sunday and Monday, declaring that the pope will talk about the “Palestinian people’s right to have a homeland, sovereign and independent.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin holds a role in the Vatican City State, located in the Italian capital of Rome, equivalent to that of a prime minister. Speaking to Vatican television on Thursday, he said “we know that the pope is going to a particularly suffering land,” reports AFP.
“I really hope that the fruit will be to help politicians and all people of good will take courageous decisions on the path to peace,” Parolin stated.
When asked what the pope particularly intends to talk about during the visit, Parolin revealed he would talk about “on the one hand, Israel’s right to exist in peace and security within internationally recognized boundaries.”
On the other side, the pope would talk about “the Palestinian people’s right to have a homeland, sovereign and independent, the right to move around freely, the right to live in dignity,” according to Parolin.
In fact, the Vatican recognized the “State of Palestine” in 2012 amid the United Nations (UN) vote to confer “Palestine” non-member observer state status, a status until then only held by the Vatican.
Despite the pope’s insistence that his visit is “religious not political,” his decision to begin his trip from Jordan directly by helicopter with a stop in Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled Bethlehem has been greeted by Arab sources as a move to “recognize Palestine” and help “end the occupation.”
Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a member of the Argentinian parliament and close friend of Pope Francis, reported in February that the pope intends to define himself as the “Che Guevera of the Palestinians” and support their “struggle and rights” during his visit.
It has been noted that the pope has been remarkably tight-lipped over the violent persecution of Christians in Bethlehem, instead choosing to condemn alleged Jewish “price tag” vandalism.
“Holy Father” asked to pressure Israel to let priests enter without IDF permission
On Thursday it was announced that 650 Christians from Gaza would be allowed to leave the Islamist-ruled enclave to travel to Judea and Samaria for the pope’s visit.
However, 20 priests from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which presides over Arab Catholic communities in Judea and Samaria, wrote the pope a letter on Thursday, complaining that they had not been allowed to enter Jerusalem without IDF permission.
“According to the State of Israel, the illegal occupier, we do not have the right to travel to Jerusalem without permission from the Israeli army,” the Arab priests said in the letter.
In the letter, the priests claimed the Vatican had given them passes to enter Jerusalem which Israel hasn’t stamped with visas. The IDF monitors passage over the 1949 Armistice lines.
“Jerusalem is becoming increasingly closed off to Christians from the West Bank,” the letter added, calling for the pope to pressure Israel to submit on controlling passage on its own borders.
The letter concluded “can the Holy Father be in the Holy Land without saying anything about the reality of injustice against an entire people held prisoner on its own land?”
Controversy, both religious and political
Another point of contention about the pope’s visit is the status of the David’s Tomb Compound in Jerusalem. While numerous government officials – including Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi – have denied control of the holy site will be transferred to the Vatican, reports have revealed a plan to indirectly transfer the site.
Rabbi Avraham Goldstein, the Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Diaspora Yeshiva located in the Compound, revealed what he said were much more underhand plans than a straightforward hand-over.
“According to the information we have…the state will be allowing the Church to conduct Mass on the upper floor; then according to Jewish law (halakha) Jews will not be able to pray downstairs (either), since on the upper floor there will be idol worship,” the rabbi said.
Jewish law forbids benefiting from anything – including a structure or shelter – used for idol-worship. Catholic effigies and other rituals fall under the Jewish legal definition of idol worship, meaning that the establishment of a permanent Catholic place of prayer in the Compound would effectively prevent Jews from conducting their own services in the entire building.
A Catholic official confirmed the Vatican’s intentions to put those very plans into effect, telling the Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday that the Vatican wants “to hold two hours of [Christian] prayer every day in the early morning before visitors start to visit it.”
@ bernard ross:
@ Bear Klein:
“In 1962 a Religious Jewish man from Queens, New York who’s name was Oscar Goldman happened to meet Pope John XXIII. Not too many Jews had a chance to meet with a Pope in those days. Mr. Goldman believed that Pope John XXIII was genuine and wanted a true Rapprochement with the Jewish People. He gave Mr. Goldman a chance to see what the Vatican had accumulated over 2000 years from the Jewish People.
It was a virtual treasure trove of artifacts many from the Second Temple. Mr. Goldman said it was in a room in the “Basement” of the Basilica. If a true Rapprochement is to be achieved, the Vatican must open up its vast collection of Hebraica, Manuscripts, and Temple Artifacts and not just pay lip service to the State of Israel and rapprochement with the Jewish People. WE WANT OUR STUFF BACK!!!!
@ Bear Klein:
I would prefer to give Peres (A Vatican agent) a State funeral yesterday….
@ bernard ross: You Nailed it on the cross! I believe!
CuriousAmerican Said:
of much greater importance is the exposure of the emissary of the 2000 year libelers, swindlers, torturers and slaughterers. Is he continuing the great tradition or taking the opportunity to repent by ending the orgs behavior?
this is much more important than graffiti or teen age posters, to the Joooooooz.
@ bernard ross:
Ah mr Ross …
You are absolutely priceless.
I almost feel sorry for this poor little antisemite….
😉
CuriousAmerican Said:
apparetntly you just never get it!
No one here cares about the alleged poster printed by some teenagers. I can understand that someone arriving from Mondoweiss might consider this to be a very important bit of evidence which might link the Joooz to the global conspiracies for which they have been frantically searching. I understand that when faced with the daily head choppping, throat slitting, honor killing, suicide bombing, plane hijacking, school girl kidnapping, etc of their special pet pals finding this bit of trivia is the only thing they can latch on to. apparently you are still clothed in the Mondoweiss culture of absurd priorites and absurd analogies, and absurd comparisons. It is difficult to find camparable behavior from the Nobel prize winners who daily achieve advancement in science, tech and meds while treating the grandaughter of their existential enemies in their hospitals. In such circumstances this discovery of the century would seem immensely important.
However, I am sorry to disappoint your double standard which seeks to equate the behaviors of the two collectives,I empathize with your disability in such a quest. The Joooz here just cant seem to give the time of day to this storm in a teacup conjured up by the mondoweiss crowd.
I suggest that those who inflate these allegations to importance and significance are basically (wait for it….) anti semitic(yes, you heard it here) 😛
CuriousAmerican Said:
really, equating an alleged act of some teenagers with the prime nazi propaganda machine causing death? grasping for straws with your mondoweiss buddies? (see the Joooz are just like the n@zis)
CuriousAmerican Said:
no one but those seeking to condemn the Jews give it importance beyond a teen prank.
CuriousAmerican Said:
didn’t see that one coming?
So far Pope’s symbolism on this trip basically is that of Far Left Activists. In other words not too Israel friendly.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/180994#.U4HmAMu9KSM
…I think I am going to overdose on gravol…
🙁
CuriousAmerican Said:
That’s your opinion which you keep repeating but offer no substantive reason why you believe the letter is what you claim it to be.
Exactly what do you find offensive and or disagree with???
Asked this of you before and you ignored the question and still no answer from you.
What do you find offensive, untrue and or disagree with from the Letter?
@ CuriousAmerican: The State of Israel invited the Pope and President Peres is giving him a State visit.