Catholic World News News Feature

Vatican, Israel to resume talks in late October October 12, 2004

Delegations representing the Holy See and the Israeli government will meet on October 17 and 28, to resume negotiations on a permanent agreement protecting the status of Church properties in the Holy Land. The two sides have set dates in December for the continuation of those talks.

"We hope to be able to finalize an accord by the end of this year," an Israeli diplomat told the Roman news agency I Media. "We are in a good position to overcome the remaining difficulties." Asked about the status of St. Louis Hospital in Jerusalem-- which has been threatened with crippling tax payments, in a clear violation of the "fundamental accord" signed by Israel and the Vatican in 1993-- the diplomat said that this was one of the "difficulties" still to be resolved. But he recalled that Israeli interior minister Avraham Poraz, during a September 2004 visit to Rome, had promised that Catholic institutions would not be required to pay taxes. The diplomat predicted that "he will keep that promise."

The resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Holy See is the latest chapter in a long story, which has produced mounting frustration among Vatican diplomats. The financial pact which is under negotiation was promised under the terms of the "fundamental accord" that opened the way to diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel in 2003. But a decade later, the pact was still not concluded. In August 2003, Israeli negotiators pulled out of talks, without explanation; the discussions were not resumed until-- under heavy diplomatic pressure from the US-- Israeli representatives returned to the bargaining table in July 2004.

However, the first meetings of the two sides in July produced no results, and Church officials quickly concluded that the Israeli representatives did not have authority to make any significant agreements. The talks were suspended once again, then resumed early in September. At that point, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio in Jerusalem, said that "positive" results had been seen.