Pope's meeting in the Upper Room brings Vatican-Israeli property and taxation dispute to the fore

For Israel And Vatican, A Taxing Issue The Jewish Week May 13, 2009. Michelle Chabin provides a helpful look at the issues involving taxation and jurisdictional matters related to church property that have plagued relations between the Vatican and Israel for years:

“There is a lot of misinformation and I’d like to explain the principles,” Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told The Jewish Week at the City Hall press center set up for the pope’s visit. According to Palmor, there are three issues in play.

“The first relates to a tax exemption for church institutions, such as churches, monasteries, schools, abbeys. The second, which is unrelated to the first, relates to immunity from expropriation. In other words, the church wants a guarantee that its property cannot be taken to build a road, for example.”

The third issue relates to the Room of the Last Supper, which Catholics call the Cenacle. “The Catholic Church has requested private ownership of the church,” a potentially inflammatory move considering that Muslims consider the site holy and many Jews believe King David is buried in a tomb beneath the Cenacle.

Unlike the first two matters, “the Cenacle is not under negotiation,” Palmor emphasized. “The Israeli government has not accepted the church’s request and it remains the property of the Israeli government.”

Whether or how much to tax property owned by the Catholic Church is the thornier of the two outstanding matters because it means a loss of tax revenues (millions of shekels) and second, because it could set a precedent for other denominations and religions, according to an official who requested anonymity. [More]

Investigating the topic, AsiaNews.it interviews Fr David-Maria A. Jaeger, a legal expert with the Franciscan order and authority on State-Church relations in the Holy Land:

The Holy Father's pilgrimage to the Cenacle on Mount Zion, the Shrine of the Last Supper, inevitably is also a reminder of the anomaly of the present situation of this Holy Place of the Institution of the Mass and the Coming down of the Holy Spirit, which could therefore be called the Birth-place of the Church.

It became the property of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land—indeed its mother-house—in the fourteenth century, a gift of the King and Queen of Naples, with the special blessing and approval of the Pope. Two centuries later though, the Ottoman rulers of Jerusalem at that time expelled the Franciscans by force, and now it is in the hands of the government of Israel.

The Franciscan Custody, however, has never relinquished its right of property in the Holy Place, and has all these centuries demanded its restitution, as it still does. It has done so in the name of the whole world-wide Catholic Church, which—by Papal mandate—the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land represents at this and other Holy Places. As an enduring sign of never acquiescing in the unjust results of the violent expulsion, the principal and original title of the Custos of the Holy Land remains forever that of ‘Guardian of the Holy Mount Zion’, as is evidenced by his seal. [More

Fr. Jaegar was also interviewed for the Jewish Week article cited above.

It's a complex dispute and honestly, I can comprehend and sympathize with both parties. For example, one implication that warrants further consideration is how transfer of ownership of the Cenacle and tax-exempt status -- such as we have in the United States -- to properties held by the Catholic Church in Israel will affect ecumenical relations with other churches and relations with Muslims and other religions.

On a related note: "Status Quo" Governs Holy Land Churches (Vatican Radio):

During his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Pope will visit several Holy Sites which are used by the Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian Churches.

The complex relationship which exists in these Churches has not always been friendly, and in the 19th century the Ottoman Empire established what is known as the Status Quo – which has governed these Holy Sites under the rule of successive regimes.

To find out more, and to find out how this Status Quo affects the Pope’s visit, Vatican Radio spoke to Franciscan Father Athanasius Macora

Related

• Mount Zion. The Cenacle and St. Peter in Gallicantu - November 24, 2003 Studium Biblicum Franciscum. Faculty of Biblical Sciences & Archeology.

Palestinians, Israelis vie for Pope Benedict's attention to their cause

An AsiaNews.it article by Abib Khoury gives some indication of how the residents of Refugee Camp Aida plan on greeting the Holy Father May 4, 2009:

The program for this visit is in its final stages and plans that the pope will be welcomed among the crowd divided into two wings with a children’s choir singing songs of welcome as well as murals and banners and Palestinian and Vatican flags. The visit is to last at least one hour. It will begin along the Security Barrier that Israel has built around all Palestinian localities to protect itself from terrorist attacks and which is the source of endless problems of movement for the Arab population. It will be followed by an exhibition which through images will seek to highlight the reality of the Palestinian situation and its history; a speech by the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, and then an address by Benedict XVI.

The camp inhabitants want to present the pope with two gifts: a chain with a key attached to it, a link – they say - between the keys of St Peter and the “key to return” of the refugees (many refugees have kept the keys to their homes from which they were expelled or forced to flee, as a sign of their hope to go home). The second gift is a map of Palestine sculpted in Tiberiad rock.

For his visit to Bethlehem, the Mayor (a Christian) asked a local Muslim artist to inscribe and decorate a copy of the Gospel of Saint Luke. The artist 51 year-old Abu Sima, is a refugee who originally fled Iraq, the Jordan and who now resides in Bethlehem.

“Through this humble work – he declares – I wish to send out a message that the Muslim artist is a pacifist. And this despite the attacks that are carried out in various parts of the world by the hands of extremists, who exploit our religion for their own ends”.

Meanwhile, Breuer Press International has details on President Shimon Peres' official reception for Pope Benedict on May 11th:

The Pope will arrive at the President’s Residence at 16:05 and will be received by the President on a red carpet. Two children, a Christian and a Jew from Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, respectively, will present the Pope with a basket of fruit and will welcome him in English in Hebrew. The Pope will also be presented with the “Seven Species” of plants named in the Bible and other Israeli-made produce, including a new strand of wheat developed by the Volcani Center and named Benedict XVI after the Pope.

After the Pope enters the President’s Residence, the two will hold a working political meeting in the conference room. During the meeting, President Peres is expected to raise the strengthening of ties between Israel and the Vatican, the advancement of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, and the readiness of the people of Israel to make peace, and he will ask the Pope to increase his involvement in the making of peace in the Middle East. He will note that there is a special role for religious leaders in bringing about peace and breaking the connections between religion and terror.

Immediately following the meeting, there will be a tree-planting ceremony for a tree of peace - an olive tree in the garden of the President’s Residence, after which will begin the aforementioned ceremony with 700 representatives of all different walks of life in Israel.

At the celebratory reception, the Pope and President Peres will deliver speeches. This will be followed by an artistic event with the participation of Children’s Voices for Peace, a choir from the diverse community of Jaffa consisting of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian children who will sing the song “Hallelujah.”

Pope Benedict's Pilgrimage to Israel - Roundup

• More than a hundred rabbis of various denominations will sign a message welcoming Benedict XVI to the Holy Land and encouraging dialogue between Jews and Christians. The initiative -- titled "United in Our Age" -- is being promoted by Rabbi Jack Bemporard, also director of the New Jersey based Center for Interreligious Understanding, and is based on Vatican II's Nostra Aetate. It will be published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. (Zenit News, April 30, 2009).

• Jerusalem Post reports that Pope Benedict XVI and President Shimon Peres will plant an olive tree in a stretch of ground on the Beit Hanassi complex that has been designated as a peace garden, thus inaugurating a new tradition to be followed by all world leaders visiting Beit Hanassi in the future, "so that world peace will symbolically take root."

  
  The article provides further details on the Pope's meeting with Israel's President, noting that despite attempts to politicize the visit, "Benedict XVI is coming to the Holy Land under the banner of peace with goodwill toward all faiths and all nations":

  Aside from a gala red carpet welcome, the pope will be greeted by some 800 people, including Voices of Peace, a 50-member children's choir of Jewish, Christian and Muslim singers from Jaffa; righteous gentiles living in Israel; Holocaust survivors; bereaved families; representatives of the Negev and the Galilee; Nobel Prize laureates; leading academics; leaders of Jerusalem's three major faiths; and various dignitaries.

  Special prayers for peace will be recited by Jewish, Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders.

  Peres and the pope will have a working meeting and will address the gathering before leaving for Yad Vashem.

• Haaretz reports that The Israeli Postal Authority is launching a special stamp series in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit next month, featuring churches across the country.

• Ron Kronish of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel believes "This is not a time to focus on the problematics of the relationship between Israel and the Vatican. There will be other occasions for that." Rather, we should join with the Pope -- who will spend his first day in Jerusalem at a convocation and reception paying tribute to organizations engaged in interreligious dialogue for peace.

  
  According to Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Nuncio to Israel:

  ccording to the papal representative in Israel, Antonio Franco, “This special event will be held in Jerusalem because we strongly believe that there should be respect and cooperation among people of different religions in order to help reach peace in the region.”

• Yad L'Achim, a haredi anti-missionary organization, has demanded that the Pope help find thousands of European Jews who, as young children, were rescued from the Holocaust by Catholic clergy and laymen and were never told of their Jewish origins.

  
  Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs, is sympathetic to the request but not the timing:

  "It is more appropriate to meet with the local archdioceses and attempt to track [them] down on a local level," said Rosen. "It is a bit sensationalist to turn to the pope."

• Finally, in an update to our prior story, Israel National News reports today on the latest round of meetings between Israel and the Vatican negotiating fiscal and property matters -- with no apparent resolution in sight:

  Nothing was signed, and another meeting was scheduled for Dec. 10 at the Vatican.

  Asked if the question of control over the Last Supper room, in the building housing King David’s Tomb on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, is close to being resolved, a Foreign Ministry delegate to the meeting answered in the negative.

  Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, Head of the World Jewish Affairs and Interreligious Affairs Department at Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, told Israel National News, “The question of control over the two rooms above David’s Tomb is something that they raise from time to time, but it is not the subject of these negotiations, nor has Israel shown any signs of ceding its full sovereignty over these areas.”

Vatican-Israeli bilateral working commission report "meaningful progress" in talks over church property. Contested(?): Mount Zion and the Cenacle

I've been hearing various reports from Catholic News Agency to Zenit that there has been progress in negotiations between Israel and the Vatican over the matter of church property. Unfortunately, while both parties seem optimistic there hasn't been a whole lot of actual detail. An article from Catholic News Agency runs along the same ambiguous lines, yet provides some information on the actual points of discussion:

The Vatican and Israeli members of a bilateral working commission met April 23 in Jerusalem and reported in a joint communique that "meaningful progress was achieved after receiving a report from a working group."

The commission scheduled another meeting at the plenary level on April 30 and reaffirmed its "joint commitment to conclude the agreement as soon as possible."

[...]

Both sides have avoided any comment on the substance of the talks, which began in 1999. But knowledgeable church sources said that the issues discussed in the negotiations included:

• Protection of church properties, especially holy places, from government appropriation.
• Restitution of some properties that have been confiscated, including the site of the shrine church in Caesarea, which was expropriated and razed in the 1950s.
• Consolidation and confirmation of historic tax exemptions that have existed for church institutions in the Holy Land. The sources emphasize that the church needs these exemptions in order to survive, and that they are comparable to tax breaks offered religious entities in the United States.
• Access to the Israeli court system for church institutions whenever property disputes arise.

Israel National News -- an opinionated news site that definitely makes its own preferences known on the matter -- states that:

Among the most significant issue under negotiations is the Vatican’s demand for the Last Supper room, located on the second floor of the ancient Mt. Zion building that also houses the tombs of Kings David, Solomon, and Hezekiah.

In addition, the Vatican is claiming areas around Lake Kinneret, as well as in Caesaria and Jerusalem.

(Source: Israel’s Control of Mt. Zion in Danger, by Hillel Fendel. April 26, 2009).

According to INN, a Foreign Ministry official confirmed in 2005 that a “blueprint of a possible agreement with the Vatican has been received.”

According to the plan, Israel would hand over to the Holy See the use of the Cenacle (the room of the event known as the Last Supper, above King David's tomb), which would in turn be handed over to the Custody of the Holy Land, who will in turn use the room for the celebration of Holy Mass, with "official liturgical celebrations of non-Catholic Churches can take place only upon prior written permission by the Custody of the Holy Land."

If this report bodes true, one can understand how it would provoke consternation on the part of not only Jews but non-Catholic Christian communities as well.

However, a later report by Israel National News indicates that a Foreign Ministry official denies categorically that Israel plans to hand over any properties. The article by Hillel Fendal does provide an insight into the fierce politics and rivalries involving this heavily contested abode -- a snippet:

"We were forced to give over part of the compound to the Ministry of Religious Affairs," says Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, founder and Dean of the Yeshiva, "which then gave it over to the Ministry of the Interior. Ever since then, the Church has been making demands and claims on the area, and has been making inroads. Their goal, ultimately, is to conduct religious services here, with hundreds of thousands of Christian tourists coming through.

"This area is very contested, by many different churches," Rabbi Goldstein (pictured below at David's Tomb) told Israel National News. "Why should the Catholic Church claim be honored more than that of others? Given such a situation, it is clear that the best solution is the status quo: Everyone is permitted to enter, but no religious services are allowed."

Without a doubt, all parties anxiously await what the committee has to report on Thursday, April 30.

Cardinal Kasper: Benedict's visit to Holy Land will be "one of the most difficult"

Speaking to the German Catholic Press Agency last week, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and head of the Vatican commission for relations with Jews, said the Holy Land visit would be "quite different" from his other visits abroad and "one of the most difficult". The Tablet reports:

"Both the political and the church situation in the Middle East are anything but easy. A balance will have to found between the Pope's encounter with Israel and the Jews on the one hand, and with the Christians, who for the most part live in the Palestinian territories, on the other. A difficult task - but all the more necessary for that," he said.

Thorough preparation was a must, he insisted, and the groundwork was in full process. "We affirm the state of Israel and maintain diplomatic relations with it, and our relationship with the Jews has improved enormously. On the other hand we must do justice to the Palestinian Christians, who do not have an easy life. The Holy See is in favour of a two-state solution but that does not seem so important to the Israeli Government at the moment. The diplomatic high-wire act will therefore be not to accept any false compromises," Cardinal Kasper emphasised.

According to Kasper, the Pope's visit had several aims -- one was to stabilize relations with the Jewish and Muslim communities -- the former after the controversy involving the Levebrists and the changes to the Good Friday Prayer, the latter still smarting from his remark about Mohammed during his Regensburg lecture (yes, even two years later). Ecumenical relations were also a factor, "as the Pope would encounter practically all the separated Christian denominations in Jerusalem."

Click here to read the rest of Cardinal Kasper's interview in The Tablet). (Thanks to Benodette at our Pope Benedict Forum for the tip).

John Allen Jr. on the politics of the papal visit

Another good column by John Allen Jr. on the papal visit, with interviews with Fr. Rif'at Bader, a Jordanian priest of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, on the "exodus" of Christians out of the Holy Land and Fr. David Jaeger of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, on the status of the Vatican's talks with the Israeli government on the legal and tax status of church property, and the fallout from Vatican attendance of the Durban II conference on racism.

Vatican withdraws invitation to controversial Arab mayor after protest

In an update to yesterday's events, we learn that Mayor Mazen Ghanaim of Sakhnin confirmed that the invitation for the April 29 audience with Pope Benedict XVI was withdrawn by the Vatican, after Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov expressed his opposition, describing Ghanaim as a "terror supporter and warmonger."

A report from Catholic News Service provides further detail as to why the invitation was rescinded:

During the war in January between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Ghanaim created a stir when he praised Palestinian "martyrs" and declared, "Long live Palestine, whose capital is Jerusalem," at an anti-war demonstration.

In a brief statement to the press, Archbishop Antonio Franco, papal representative to Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was a "pity to make such a controversy" over the issue of a general audience with the pope and he regretted that Pope Benedict was dragged into the polemics.

A local Christian source told Catholic News Service that the Vatican also was miffed at Ghanaim's claims that he had been invited to meet with the pope and discuss the status of Israeli Arabs prior to the papal visit.

"(Ghanaim) would have had the opportunity to shake the pope's hand and at best exchange a few words with him," said the source, adding that the papal audience had no connection to the pope's pilgrimage.

John Allen, Jr: "This trip may be pope's last chance to see the land of the Bible"

"This trip may be pope's last chance to see the land of the Bible", says John Allen, Jr. in one of his characteristically all-encompassing and substantial analyses of the papal visit and its implications for Catholic-Jewish, Catholic-Muslim, and Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Further complicating Benedict’s peace-making effort is the Vatican’s reputation among many Israelis as less than a fair broker. Officially, the Holy See is even-handed: it supports the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to sovereignty and security, and calls for an “internationally guaranteed special status” for the holy places that does not prejudice the question of whether Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel, a Palestinian state, or both.

In reality, however, the Vatican has long been sort of a mirror image of American Evangelicals: A Christian force in the West that, for reasons both theological and political, takes a keen interest in the Middle East, only in this case tending to favor the Palestinians rather than the Israelis. (One small but telling symbol of where the Vatican’s heart lies is that an ivory set of the Stations of the Cross, which currently adorn the chapel of the Synod Hall, were a gift to John Paul II from Arafat.)

This pro-Palestinian tilt is informed by a variety of factors, but probably none so decisive as the simple fact that the Christians on the ground, from whom the Vatican often takes its cues, are mostly Palestinians. If Christianity is to have a future in the Holy Land, its center of gravity will inevitably be in a Palestinian state.

One of his journalistic strengths I find is in presenting in a fair manner the perspectives (and grievances) of all parties:

Perceptions of pro-Palestinian bias have long been a sore point in Vatican/Israeli relations, most recently when a senior Vatican official compared the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip to a “giant concentration camp.” That was hardly unprecedented: In the spring of 2002, Israel repeatedly protested L’Osservatore Romano’s insistence on referring to a standoff at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem as an Israeli “siege,” even though it began when Palestinian gunmen stormed the church. In July 2005, when Israel complained that Benedict XVI had not included an Israeli town on a list of places hit by recent terror attacks, a Vatican spokesperson testily replied that the pope was reluctant to denounce such attacks for fear of legitimizing disproportionate military responses from Israel that violate international law.

Just in the last few days, Israelis objected that the Vatican has chosen to participate in the U.N.’s “World Conference Against Racism” in Geneva April 20-24, rather than joining the United States, Canada, Italy, and other nations in distancing themselves from the event (also known as the “Durban Review Conference”) on the grounds that it equates Zionism with racism, and singles out Israel for blame.

If the Catholic church wishes to serve as a catalyst for peace, its leadership obviously must convince both Israelis and Palestinians of their impartiality. Benedict thus has to walk a tightrope: Reassuring Israelis that he’s sympathetic to them, despite the history sketched above, while not creating alarm among Palestinians that the Vatican is abandoning their cause.

Israeli Tourism Minister and Mayor of Sakhnin butt heads over papal visit

• Politics, politics, politics. Israel's tourism minister has requested that Pope Benedict XVI to cancel a meeting with the mayor of an Arab-Israeli town (YNet News, April 22, 2009)

  Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov asked the Vatican to cancel a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Sakhnin Mayor Mazen Ghanaim scheduled to take place before the pope's visit to Israel next month, the minister's media advisor Amnon Lieberman reported.

  The advisor's statement read that "the planned meeting between the pope and Sakhnin Mayor Mazen Ghanaim is in complete contradiction with the purpose of the pope's visit, that is a state-religious visit meant to promote peace and dialogue between the peoples and religions."

  The advisor said the request was sent to the relevant bodies by Israel's ambassador in the Vatican City.

  Misezhnikov was quoted in the statement as saying, "This is a terror supporter and warmonger that acts against the national interests of the state in which he serves as mayor, and I call on the Holy See to abstain from meeting with him."

  Dr. Ahmad Tibi, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and leader of the Arab Nationalist Party in Israel, condemned Misezhnikov's condemnation of Stas Misezhnikov:

  Tibi said this was "incitement from the Yisrael Beiteinu camp against a mayor that was elected democratically."

  Tibi added that "the Vatican and the international community should isolate the fascist Jewish party's representative".

  Of Mayor Mazen Ghanaim and the little town of Sakhnin, we came across this interesting tidbit ("To be an Arab, and an Israeli", by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler (# Inter Press Service March 26, 2009):

  Sakhnin, a town of 26,000, is somewhat smaller than Um el-Fahm. But it has ample credit as a focus of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. In October 2000, three Sakhnin youths were shot and killed by Israeli police during demonstrations in support of the Palestinian Intifadah uprising. The town has also long been at the forefront of demands for equality and against the persistent appropriation of their land. The annual Land Day march that recalls lost land is always in Sakhnin.

  Sakhnin does not turn its back on these credentials. But, it also sees itself as a model for a new reality that can be created between Jews and Arabs within Israel. What it proffers is a different challenge to the Jewish majority, the challenge of acceptance, cast in the straightforward message of Ghazal abu- Raya: “We want to be part of the State of Israel, a fully integrated part of the nation with equal rights and equal duties, in the centre of the national pitch, not relegated beyond the sidelines, as we always have been.”

  The football imagery is no accident. The town entered Jewish Israeli consciousness most dramatically as a result of the success of its club, Bnei Sakhnin (literally “Sons of Sakhnin”). Five years ago, against all odds, the tiny club was crowned State Cup champions. Winning on the football field allowed Sakhnin to pose the challenge whether the cardinal issues of discrimination, equality, identity and co-existence could be squared into the one round ball. ...

  Mazen Ghanaim, who as chairman of the football club took his town to glory, was elected last November Sakhnin mayor.

• In other news, a delegation from Jordan to the Vatican, led by Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Maha Khatib, conveyed their thanks to the Pope for his impending visit (Catholic News Agency April 22, 2009):

  At the conclusion of the Wednesday General Audience last week, Khatib said, “In the name of the kings, the government and all of the people, we want to assure you that Jordan is doing everything possible to offer you a dignified and warm welcome.”

  “In Jordan Muslims are awaiting the Pope’s visit in the same way as Christians,” said Khatib, who spoke briefly with the Holy Father after the audience.

• Palestinian worshippers from a Bethlehem parish gifted the Holy Father with a kaffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf (Haaretz):

  At the end of the service, two youths from the group were brought to the pope and draped the black-and-white checkered scarf on his shoulders. Benedict chatted briefly with them while wearing the scarf, which an aide later removed.

Interview with Fouad Twal on Benedict XVI's visit to the Holy Land

The website of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land features an interview with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, in which he responds to many questions that have been arisen concerning the Pope's impending journey.

• Responding to the concerns of Palestinian Christians:

  The worries – I would even say, the anguish – are in part legitimate, but I want to underline that they were – and still are here and there – felt by the Arab Christians living in the Territories and in Jerusalem. The reality of the Christians who live in Israel, and all the more so that of the Christians of Jordan is an entirely different one; they see the pope’s visit in a different light. In a diocese that lives extremely differing realities, we must try to have a more global vision of this visit and to consider it in all its dimensions: political and social and human and religious.

• On whether the Holy Father should have waited "for a better time", in light of the Israeli-Palestianian conflict in Gaza:

  So what should be done? Wait for better times? But this region is never at peace! Wait until the Palestinian question is resolved? I’m afraid that two or three sovereign pontiffs will pass before it is definitively settled.

  It’s the story of the glass that is half full or half empty… Some say: “The situation is difficult, so it would be better if he didn’t come.” Others on the contrary say: “The situation is difficult, so it would be better if he came.” And that is our position. During these difficult times, I want the Holy Father to come to help us to “superare”: to go beyond, to see further.

  The pope is coming to visit all the Churches, all the people who live in the Holy Land in order to encourage us to remain faithful to our mission, to our faith, and to our awareness of belonging to this Land.

• On Israel's expected use of the visit for public-relations:

  Israel will do all it can to present its country in the best light. I understand that, it is its right.

  It is not our task to criticize or to denounce what the others do. Our job is to do our part to make the visit as pastoral as possible; it is our responsibility to do our part so that our Christians might have the possibility to see the Holy Father, to pray with him and to hear his message of peace and of justice for all. If one studies all the messages published by the Holy See concerning the Holy Land, Iraq and the Middle East, one can see that we have an unheard of capital of addresses, support, interventions that are rich in humanity, the Christian spirit and justice. There is no doubt that the Holy Father will continue in this sense during his visit to the Holy Land.

  It falls upon us, the local Church, to watch over the program’s equilibrium: the sites to visit, the persons to meet, the addresses to be made. It is our job “to give the Holy Father a helping hand”.

• On relations between Israel and the Vatican:

  It is difficult to find a good balance and to maintain it. Having said that, the more the Vatican is a friend of Israel’s, the more it will be able to draw profit from that friendship for greater peace and justice. If the tension continues between the universal Catholic Church and Israel, we will all lose, we Christians and we Arabs. On the other hand, if Israel trusts the Holy See entirely, based on that friendship, the Holy See will be able to speak of truth, of justice and of peace. For with the language of friendship, it is possible to say things to one another that one would refuse to hear if it came from an enemy.

  Being friends and speaking as such is good for everyone: for the friend, for Israel, and for the others. I just hope that the Holy See’s friendship with Israel is reciprocal.

Read the rest of Fouad Atwi's interview with Marie-Armelle Beaulieu.

Preparing for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel and the Holy Land (Roundup II)

• Catholic News Service says that Pope Benedict XVI will encounter a Holy Land that has changed greatly since Pope John Paul II visited in 2000 -- characterized by Israeli-Palestinian tensions; bickering Palestinian political factions; communities divided by a 2002 separation barrier to prevent terrorist attacks, and a recent war between Israel and Hamas:

  Pope Benedict will face a land torn asunder and scarred by the violence and physical barriers of the second intifada, which broke out just months after the 2000 papal visit. He will stand before people who have lost hope in the future and no longer trust their politicians, and he will see precarious economies still reeling from the effects of the intifada and feeling the sting of the current international economic downturn -- still waiting for the additional influx of pilgrims and tourists they dreamed of following the earlier papal visit. ...

  Though Pope Benedict has insisted, as did Pope John Paul, that his visit is a spiritual pilgrimage and not meant as a political statement, both Israelis and Palestinians say they have expectations ranging from bringing about a renewal of the stalled peace talks, bringing an economic boost to the area with an influx of pilgrims, helping refocus international attention on the political situation and initiating a spiritual strengthening of the local Catholic faithful.

• Christian tourism to Israel has increased by 17 percent since Pope John Paul II visited nine years ago, the Israeli Tourism Ministry said on Thursday (Jerusalem Post):

  ... the number of Christian visitors who defined themselves as pilgrims shot up a whopping 43% over the last eight years, with more than one million in 2008 - more than half of the Christian visitors - calling themselves pilgrims.

  Suffice to say they're hoping for a similar response from Benedict's papal visit.

  However, in an update to this story, Haaretz reports that the department has modified (and somewhat reduced) its expectations of a high turnout - "About 10,000 Christian pilgrims are expected to come to Israel in May during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, significantly fewer than the "over 40,000" that Tourism Ministry officials spoke about less than a month ago."

• According to the Franciscan Custodians of the Holy Land, preparation for Benedict XVI's Holy Land visit is advancing the relationship between the Holy See and Israel, though formal agreements are still pending:

  The article noted that although this Papal trip will not conclude the pending agreements between the Holy See and Israel, the friendly atmosphere the visit has generated is serving to advance towards that objective.

  The agreements currently being negotiated, within a bilateral commission of Israeli and Vatican negotiators, will govern the legal status of the Catholic Church in that country. This follows the Fundamental Agreement, signed in 1993, which established the diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel.

  In recent months, the committee's meetings have made such progress that it was believed the negotiations might be concluded on the occasion of the Papal visit.

• The Washington Times reports on Nazareth's competition with Jerusalem and Bethlehem for papal attention, and preparations for the visit:

  "We are building new roads, expanding our electrical grid to Mount Precipice and laying pipes to convey water to the stadium," said Suheil Diab, an aide to the mayor. "There will be seats for 7,500 people and space for the more than 35,000 on the surrounding grounds."

  A new extension of a modern highway will lead directly to the stadium atop Mount Precipice. A helicopter pad is being leveled next to the stadium and another near the Basilica of the Annunciation.

  An estimated $5 million promised to the municipality by Israel's government is expected to cover the cost of 25 infrastructure projects. "The work under way is nearing completion," Mr. Diab said.

  The article also mentions security concerns (a local Muslim extremist group known as "Ahbab Allah" -- "God's Beloved" -- is still smarting from having construction halted on their mosque over a decade ago); and that "at this stage, the papal schedule does not call for stops at most of the historic shrines associated with Jesus' youth in Nazareth." (The Pope will, apparently, enter the residence of the Holy Mother, located in a cave below the Basilica of the Annunciation).

• Haaretz reports that The Jesus Trail, a Galilee path that supposedly traces the route of Jesus, will be completed in time for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI next month.

• According to YNet News, during Benedict's visit to Jerusalem, he'll take time out to visit the city's Time Elevator site, and get to inaugurate its new attraction – the Aerial Odyssey:

  The Aerial Odyssey is an aerial adventure in which visitors get to fly over Israel and gain a unique new perspective as the past and present of this land are revealed.

  During the journey, visitors are exposed to a variety of natural and human treasures, the likes of which cannot be found anywhere else. The ride shows the people, the places and the religions that make up the holy land.