Papal visit to Holy Land possible for 2009

December 01, 2008

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories in May 2009. In an official statement released in response to that report, Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said: "I can confirm that contacts exist at a diplomatic level between the Holy See and Israel to study the possibility of a trip by the Pope to the Holy Land next year."

The Haaretz report suggested that tensions between the Vatican and world Jewish leaders over the cause for beatification of Pope Pius XII could be an obstacle to the papal visit. However the paper did not mention another important issue. Vatican diplomats have suggested on several occasions that the Pope would not visit the Holy Land until a long-overdue diplomatic pact establishing the juridical rights of the Church in Israel is finalized. Vatican and Israeli diplomats are still discussing the terms of that agreement, with their next negotiating session scheduled for this month.

 

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Further information:

• Pope to make rare visit to Israel in May, following months of Jewish-Catholic tension
• Pope May Make First Trip to Israel and Palestinian Lands in ’09
• Possibility of papal trip to Holy Land under examination (VIS)
• No breakthrough in Vatican-Israel diplomatic talks (CWN, Nov. 10)