1. Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation “Concerning the Increased Needs of the Church in the Holy Land”, The Link, VII, May-June 1974, p. 2.

2. D.M.A. Jaeger, “Christianity in the Holy Land: The Main Issues, An Introduction”, in D.M.A. Jaeger (ed.) Papers Read at the 1979 Jantur Conference on Christianity in the Holy Land, Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1981, p. 21.

3. See note 2.

4. Bernardin Collin, Rome, Jerusalem et Les Lieux Saints, Paris, Editions Franciscaines, 1982, p. 93.

5. According to a leading German theologian, Johannes Baptist Metz, the Roman Catholic Church is now “a Third World Church... on the way from a cultural monocentrism based on Europe and North America to a cultural polycentri-city encompassing the world”, World Press Review, June 1983, p. 3.

6. W. Buhlmann, The Coming of the Third Church, Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 1977, p. 20.

7. Newsweek, 12 September 1985.

8. Buhlmann, op. cit. note 6, p. 20.

9. Ivan Vallier, “The Roman Catholic Church: A Transnational Actor”, in R.O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Jr. (eds) Transnational Relations and World Politics, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972, p. 144.

10. Meir Mendes, Ha Vatikan we Israil, Jerusalem: Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1983, pp. 116-17.

11. For some examples from the perspective of the Church's centre-periphery relationship, see J. Bryan Hehir, “The Catholic Church and the Middle East”, in Neil C. Ellis (ed.) The Vatican, Islam, and the Middle East, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1987, pp. 114-15.

12. Mendes, op. cit. note 10, p. 117.

13. The Holy See had signed concordats with Mussolini and Hitler and, according to Professor Federico Alessandrini, a long-time official Vatican spokesman well known for his anti-communist sympathies, “would also have signed an agreement with Stalin if he had ever been willing to do so”. Quoted in Hansjakob Stehle, Eastern Politics of the Vatican 1917-1979, Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1981, p. 6.

14. Buhlmann, op. cit. note 6, pp. 223-8. This does not imply the Church's acceptance of an objectively valid religious pluralism: see Jaeger, op. cit. note 2, p. 47.

15. Mgr P. Rossano, addressing the Seminar on Christianity in the Holy Land, Tantur, 1 March 1980, pointed out that “monotheism, which is creationist, historical, prophetic, social and eschatological”, is a “religious frame, which pervades the so-called Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam”. Jaeger, op. cit. note 2, pp. 51-2.

16. They were first mentioned in a political context in a memorandum prepared by the Vatican's Secretariat of State for Pope Pius XII before his meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the autumn of 1944. The Secretariat of State included an emphatic reminder of the Palestinian Christian presence and rights: Notes of the Secretariat of State, Vatican, 23 August 1944, in Actes et Documents du Saint Siège Relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1965-81, XI, 1981, p. 489.

17. Sergio I. Minerbi, L'Italie et Palestine 1914-1920, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1970, p. 69ff.

18. “Le Dispersione D'Israelle per Mondo Moderno”, La Civilta Cattolica, ser. 16, x, 10 April 1897, p. 270.

19. Count Le Salis (Vatican) to Foreign Office, 28 July 1921, FO 371/6396, Public Records Office, London, England.

20. Perowne (Rome) to Bevin, 4 September 1946, FO 371/52557, Public Record Office, London, England. The second delegation in the fall of 1947 was headed by Mgr Georges Hakim, Melkite Archbishop of Galilee, and included two other members, Dr Mohammed Afifi, a Muslim, and Dr Yakoub Khouri, a Christian. On their efforts at the Vatican and in some other European countries see Journal de Genève, 11 September 1947, pp. 1-2.

21. See the opinion of Professor Ernest Buonainti, a noted Roman Catholic religious scholar and a confidant of Cardinal Gasparri, as quoted by M. Beilison, “The Roman Catholic Church and Zionism”, Wiener Morgenzeitung, 17 December 1921, enclosed in the dispatch of Zionist Organization (London) to Forbes Adam, 9 January 1922, FO 37/7773, Public Records Office, London, England. See also P. Lapide, Three Popes and the Jews, New York, Hawthorn Books, 1967, p. 84.

22. McCatee (Jerusalem) to the Secretary of State, No. 255, 20 June 1947, File 867 N404/6-2047, R959, NA Washington DC.

23. Perowne (Rome) to Burrows, 19 January 1948, FO 371/68500, Public Records Office, London, England.

24. James G. McDonald (Tel Aviv) to the Secretary of State, 11 January 1949, File 867 N01/1-1149, RG 59, NA Washington DC. See also Simha Flapan, The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities, New York, Pantheon Books, 1987.

25. The US Foreign Service reported frequent cases of looting and desecration of Christian churches by some Israeli fanatics. See, for instance, Lippincot (Haifa) to the Secretary of State, 14 September 1948, File 867N 404/9-1448, RG 59, NA; Burdett (Jerusalem) to the Secretary of State, 6 June 1948, File 867 N404/10648, RG 59, NA; Dunn (Rome) to the Secretary of State, No. 3713, 17 September 1948, File 766A 67N/9-1748, RG 59, NA.

26. Jaeger, op. cit. note 2, p. 79ff.

27. Augustin Cardinal Bea, The Church and the Jewish People, London, Geoffrey Chapman, 1966, pp. 164-6.

28. Gaudium et Spes, in Austin P. Flannery (ed.), Documents of Vatican II, Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans, 1975, p. 903.

29. Eric O. Hanson, The Catholic Church in World Politics, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1987, p. 237.

30. One example is the papal visit to the synagogue in Rome on 13 April 1986. Sunday Star (Toronto), 13 April 1986, p. B2.

31. For the officially accepted attitude of admiration and affinity with Jewish people and Judaism see the Vatican publication “Notes on the correct way to present the Jews and Judaism in preaching and cathechesis in Roman Catholic Church”, L'Osservatore Romano (English ed.), 1 July 1985, pp. 6-7.

32. It has been pointed out that “Conservative Church officials do not have to receive direct orders from businessman and from politicians to act in accordance with ruling class interests, since their own interests coincide with those of the ruling class”. Jean-Guy Vaillancourt, Papal Power: A Study of Vatican Control over Lay Catholic Elites, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1980, p. 261.

33. François Houtart, `Réflexions sociologiques sur la service diplomatique du Saint Siège”, Concilium (French ed.), 91, January 1974, p. 162.

34. Mendes, op. cit. note 10, p. 119.

35. The New York Times, 22 October 1984, p. A8.

36. William Murphy, “The Holy See and the Current Situation in the Middle East”, paper given at the Seventh National Workshop on Christian-Jewish Relations, Boston, 26 April 1983, pp. 6-7 (mimeo).

37. Among others, Cardinal J. Willebrands, president of the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism, made these points in a letter to Rabbi David Rosen, the chief rabbi of Ireland, in October 1982. Jewish Chronicle (London), 22 October 1982, p. 6.

38. Le Monde, 21 February 1985, p. 4.

39. Hanson, op. cit. note 29, p. 340.

40. Le Monde, 21 February 1985, p. 4.

41. Ibid.

42. New York Times, 26 November 1984, p. A5. See also George Emile Irani, “The Holy See and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”, in Ellis, op. cit. note 11, p. 129.

43. New York Times, 20 February 1985, p. A3. See also New York Times, 21 February 1985, p. A3.

44. L'Osservatore Romano (English ed.), 1 July 1985, p. 7.

45. New York Times, 25 June 1985.

46. The Vatican's sensitivity to its pro-Israeli critics is clearly demonstrated in Cardinal J. Willebrand's October 1982 letter to Rabbi David Rosen, the chief rabbi of Ireland. See note 36.

47. Origins, 9, 21 June 1979, p. 71.

48. Ibid., p. 74.

49. Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation “Concerning the increased needs of the Church in the Holy Land”, The Link, VII, May-June 1974, p. 2.

50. For some problems involved in the Israeli rule over the Christian Holy Places and the attitude of the Church authorities and local Christian faithful, see Walden Zander, Israel and the Holy Places of Christendom, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971, pp. 100-1, 162-3 and passim.

51. Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation. See note 49.

52. Ibid. About the special mission of Arab Christians in the Holy Land and in Israel see Samir Khalil, “La Tradition arabe chrétienne et la Chrétienté de Terre-Sainte”, in Jaeger, op. cit. note 2, p. 430.

53. Gino Concetti, “Cristiani e la terra santa”, L'Osservatore Romano, 19 November 1978, p. 3.

54. Mgr Pio Laghi, Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem, expressed this, saying that in the Holy Land “L'Eglise au cours de l'histoire est vivante dans la personne des Chrétiens arabes. Ici l'Eglise est, en quelque sorte, mariée à la culture arabe palestinienne”. Journal de Genève, 14 March 1974, p. 1.

55. The first important display of this solidarity with the Palestinian cause took place during the 1971 meetings of the Holy Synod of Bishops, called to debate the theme of “Justice in the World”. Livia Rokach, The Catholic Church and the Question of Palestine, London, Saqi Books, 1987, pp. 98-101.

56. E.J. Dionne, Jr, “Ties to Israel urged in Vatican”, New York Times, 22 October 1984, p. A8.

57. Paul VI, “Letter on XXV Anniversary of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine”, L'Osservatore Romano (English ed.), 8 August 1974, p. 8.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid.

60. Ibid.

61. George E. Irani, The Papacy and the Middle East: The Role of the Holy See in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Notre Dame, IN, Notre Dame University Press, 1986, pp. 31-2.

62. Ibid., p. 32.

63. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, January-March 1976, p. 134.

64. Especially in 1982 and during and after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The most comprehensive statement was a communiqué released to the press after Yasser Arafat's audience with the Pope on 15 September 1982. Le Documentation catholique, 79, 17 October 1982, p. 921.

65. Secretariatus pro-non christiani, Bulletin, 57, 1984, XIX (3), p. 254.

66. Globe and Mail, 25 June 1988, p. 14.

67. Ibid.

68. In theory, the Roman Catholic Church states only general principles, and their concrete application is left to others. Thomas Sieger Derr, Barriers to Ecumenism: The Holy See and the World Council of Churches on Social Questions, Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 1983, p. 12.

69. See, especially, “Israeli Settlements on the West Bank of the Jordan”, L'Osservatore Romano (English ed.), 10 November 1977.

70. Analysing the Papal address to the UN General Assembly on 2 October 1979, the French daily Le Monde pointed out that “a general overall peace in the area” which should include “just settlement of the Palestinian question” implied for him “without doubt... the evacuation of the occupied territories” where the Vatican wanted to locate “a Palestinian homeland”. Le Monde, 4 October 1979, p. 1.

71. Michael Christopher King, The Palestinians and the Churches, vol. 1, 1948-56, Geneva, World Council of Churches, 1981, pp. 129-30.

72. Personal interview with Vatican official, 23 April 1985.

73. Joseph L. Ryan, “The Holy See and Jordan”, in Ellis, op. cit. note 11, 163-88.

74. The contrast is particularly striking between Israel and the neighbouring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. For comparison of the basic data concerning their level of development, see A. Al Marayati (ed.) International Relations of the Middle East and North Africa, Cambridge, MA, Schenkman, 1984, vols XVII and XX. The political implications of such a striking discrepancy for the balance of power in the area cannot be exaggerated.

75. The Guardian weekly supplement, 27 March 1988, p. 11.

76. L'Osservatore Romano Weekly (English ed.), 4 January 1988, p. 12.

77. Ibid., 8 February 1988, p. 20.

78. Ibid., 15 February 1988, p. 12.

79. The Times (London), 5 February 1988, p. 8.

80. Globe and Mail, 29 December 1987, p. N3.

81. Ibid.

82. Le Monde, international edition, no. 2043, 30 December 1987, p. 1.

83. Lyon Peyton, “Canada-Middle East Tilt”, International Perspectives (September-October 1982), p. 4. See also note 77.

84. La Documentation catholique, 81, 18 March 1984, p. 297.

85. UN Chronicle XVI, October 1979, p. 89.

86. H.F. Eilts, “Preface”, in Ellis, op. cit. note 11, p. viii.

87. George E. Irani, The Papacy and the Middle East: The Role of the Holy See in the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1962-1984, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press, 1986, p. 11.

88. For instance, the General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party, Alessandro Natta, declared that, “We are prepared to cooperate with Catholics and their organizations in defence of a just cause, such as the cause of the Palestinians” (New Times, Moscow, 20 May 1988, p. 9).

The Vatican and the Palestinian Question

Abstract