Talks held to prepare for Holy Land visit

Pope Francis and his Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, have held talks in Rome with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, furthering plans for a papal visit to the Holy Land next spring and discussing peaceful coexistence in the region, writes Robert Mickens.

Mr Netanyahu met privately for 20 minutes with Pope Francis, accompanied only by a translator. He later held talks with Archbishop Parolin and the Vatican’s equivalent of deputy foreign minister, Mgr Antoine Camilleri. He told reporters afterwards that he had reiterated the invitation President Shimon Peres first extended last April to the Pope to visit Israel.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, when he was in the Vatican in October, also invited Francis to visit the West Bank.

Unconfirmed reports say the visit is to take place around 25-26 May next year. However, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, announced in Amman last Saturday that the trip would begin in Jordan. The country’s King Abdullah II invited Francis when they met in Rome in August.

“Aside from indicating the Holy Father’s plans for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, various questions were considered regarding the relations between the state authorities and the local Catholic communities, as well as between the state of Israel and the Holy See,” said the communiqué on Monday’s meetings with Mr Netanyahu. Officials for the Secretary of State  expressed eagerness to finalise an agreement on church properties and employees in Israel.

During the customary exchange of gifts, the Israeli Prime Minister offered Pope Francis a book on the Spanish Inquisition written by his late father. Reports said it argues that the Inquisitors did not persecute Jews, as many historians claim, but only heretical Christians.
The Catholic Chaldean Patriarch in Baghdad, Louis Raphaël I Sako, is hoping Francis will become the first Pope  to visit Iraq. He told the Rome-based AsiaNews last week that his country needs a papal visit to help persuade Christians against leaving the Middle East.