Vatican signs treaty with imaginary state of 'Palestine'
And you thought the German Pope was going to be a problem? Argentinean-born Pope Francis I's Vatican has signed a 'treaty' with the 'state' of '
Palestine.'
The Vatican
signed its first treaty with the "State of Palestine" on Friday, calling
for "courageous decisions" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
backing a two-state solution.
The
treaty, which made official the Vatican's de facto recognition of
Palestine since 2012, angered Israel, which called it "a hasty step
(that) damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement".
Israel also said it could have implications on its future diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
The
accord, which concerns the Catholic Church's activities in areas
controlled by the Palestinian Authority, also confirmed the Vatican's
increasingly proactive role in foreign policy under Pope Francis. Last
year, it brokered the historic resumption of ties between the United
States and Cuba.
Archbishop Paul
Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister, said at the signing that he
hoped it could be a "stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the
long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to cause
suffering for both parties".
He
called for peace negotiations held directly between Israelis and
Palestinians to resume and lead to a two-state solution. "This certainly
requires courageous decisions, but it will also offer a major
contribution to peace and stability in the region," he said.
To date, the 'Palestinians' have yet to make any 'courageous decisions' or to drop any of their demands. There is no compromising with them. They continue to seek the destruction of the world's only Jewish State, which happens to be
the only state in the Middle East where Christians - including Catholics - are safe, and where their population has grown. Note this disingenuous statement from the article:
There are about 100,000 Catholics of the Roman
and Greek Melkite rites in Israel and the Palestinian territories, most
of them Palestinians.
Actually,
most of them live in Israel, although they may consider themselves '
Palestinians.'
I never bought into this 'infallibility' stuff. I buy it even less today.
Labels: Catholic Church, Christians in Israel, Christians in Muslim countries, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Pope Francis I
Report: Israel to turn David's tomb over to the Vatican
A report in Makor Rishon (a Hebrew paper that is only distributed in hard copy and as a pdf by email) indicates that a deal has been reached to
turn over to the Vatican control over David's tomb.
An investigative report in Makor Rishon cites La Stampa Vatican Insider
journalist Andrea Tornielli as saying that the deal has been nearly
completed, and that Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin is in charge of
the negotiations with the Vatican, but Israel denies any such deal.
The agreement allegedly contains two elements. The first is Israel's
forgoing the levying of property tax and other taxes for all “churches,
holy sites, prayer houses and cemeteries.” The second is the transfer of
the “Last Supper room” on the floor above David's tomb to the
Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land (Custodia Terræ Sanctæ).
Rabbi Yaakov Sevilia, an activist for King David's Tomb, told Arutz Sheva
Sunday that there is also a deal between Christians and Muslims,
according to which the Muslims will retain control over the Temple Mount
whereas Mount Zion will become Christian property. He cited journalist Gulio Meotti, who contributes regularly to Arutz Sheva, as the source for this knowledge.
Rabbi Sevilia emphasized that the tomb is, without a doubt, the
burial place of King David, and mentioned a recent book – “The Secret of
David's Tomb” – as containing proof of this claim.
"The Christians believe that the Tomb of David is indeed located
here, but they do everything possible to confuse us, the Jewish people,
so that we lose our connection to this place,” he accused. He added that
while there has been a Jewish awakening with regard to the site, the
Christian presence at the tomb is still much greater than the Jewish
presence, with about 200 tour buses bringing Christians to the site
daily.
There have been reports in the past about a deal to transfer the second floor of the Tomb to the Vatican. Tornielli says
that this is the core issue in talks between the Vatican and Israel.
Rabbi Sevilia claims that the Last Supper Room is just a toehold that
the Vatican intends to expand in the future, in a ploy to take over the
entire Tomb site.
Two points. First, I'd like to know what Israel is getting in this 'deal.' If anyone can find anything, please let me know because I don't see it.
Second, not that I'm advocating turning the site over to the Christians (the very fact that thousands of Jewish prayers have been said there makes the location holy to Jews), but the question of whether the tomb is actually located on Mount Zion is not quite as settled as Rabbi Sevilia is making it out to be. Last Succot, we did a tour of the City of David, in which we were shown a site (admittedly without a tombstone) which could potentially have been King David's burial place. And the location fit more closely with the scriptures (although I honestly do not remember how or why).
Labels: Catholic Church, Jews, Muslims, Old City of Jerusalem, Vatican
New book: The Vatican v. Israel
Here's a quick video interview with Giulio Meotti, who is talking about his new book, The Vatican v. Israel.
Let's go to the videotape.
Labels: Catholic Church, Giulio Meotti, Vatican
Warning: Anti-Semite in line to become Pope
Alan Dershowitz warns that one of the candidates on the short list to become the Pope - Venezuela's Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga - is
an anti-Semite.
To put it most simply, Rodriguez Maradiaga is an out and out
Jew-hater. He has said that "the Jews" are to blame for the scandal
surrounding the sexual misconduct of priests toward young parishioners!
The Jews? How did Rodriguez Maradiaga ever come up with this
hair-brained idea? Here is his "logic." He begins by asserting that the
Vatican is anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian (as he says it should be). It
follows, therefore, that "the Jews" had to get even with the Catholic
Church, while at the same time deflecting attention away from Israeli
injustices against the Palestinians. The Jews managed to do this by
arranging for the media—which he says they control—to give
disproportionate attention on the Vatican sex scandal.
Listen to Rodriguez Maradiaga's own words:
"It certainly makes me think that in a moment in which
all the attention of the mass media was focused on the Middle East, all
the many injustices done against the Palestinian people, the print media
and the TV in the United States became obsessed with sexual scandals
that happened 40 years ago, 30 years ago. Why? I think it's also for
these motives: What is the church that has received Arafat the most
times and has most often confirmed the necessity of the creation of a
Palestinian state? What is the church that does not accept that
Jerusalem should be the indivisible capital of the State of Israel, but
that it should be the capital of the three great monotheistic
religions?"
Rodriguez Maradiaga then goes on to compare the Jewish controlled
media with "Hitler," because they are "protagonists of what I do not
hesitate to define as a persecution against The Church."
The prime media culprit in Rodriguez Maradiaga's bizarro world is the
Boston Globe, which has won numerous journalistic awards for its
exposure of the sex scandal and cover up. The Globe is owned by The New
York Times, which is controlled by the Sulzberger family. Hence the
Jewish conspiracy. The problem (among so many) with this cockamamie
theory is that the Jewish community of Boston was very close to, and
admiring of, Cardinal Bernard Law, who presided over the archdiocese
during the scandal. Cardinal Law had built bridges between the Catholic
and Jewish communities of Boston, and when the scandal was exposed by
the very un-Jewish Boston Globe, the Jewish community remained largely
supportive of Law. None of the leading media critics, lawyers or
politicians who railed against the church were Jewish. Most were
Catholic. But that didn't matter to the bigoted cardinal, who -- along
with other classic anti-Semites -- believes that if there is a problem,
"the Jews" must be to blame for it. As James Carrol, the distinguished
columnist for the Boston Globe who is himself a Catholic, has
characterized Rodriguez Maradiaga's "crackpot" mindset: "when the church
has a problem—here is the oldest move of all—blame the Jews."
When asked whether he wanted to reconsider his attack, Rodriguez
Maradiaga replied: "I don't repent... sometimes it is necessary to shake
things up." He later promised Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League
that he wouldn't repeat his conspiratorial nonsense, but he has refused
to publicly apologize or "repent."
I am not an expert on the inner workings of the Catholic Church (I have readers who are far more familiar with it than I am) but I certainly hope that this guy isn't the winner.
Labels: anti-Semitism, Catholic Church
Vatican calls Israel 'baby killers'
Giulio Meotti reports that a representative of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Vatican Council for Culture, has accused Israel of being '
baby killers' as a result of this week's action in Gaza.
The Catholic Church high official equated Israel’s operation in Gaza
against terror groups with the New Testament story of Herod’s slaughter
of Jewish babies in his effort to kill Jesus.
Ravasi, who is one of the most popular Catholic cardinals and the
director of the Church’s policy on culture, called Israelis baby-killers
in a shameless form of anti-Semitism which subtly accuses the Jewish
State of trying to murder the new Jesus, symbolized by the Palestinian
people.
The Vatican official’s modern blood libel against Israel was
delivered during the presentation of Pope Benedict’s new book about the
life of Jesus. However, Ravasi's theme – the Jews as Herod, who killed
all the innocent babies because his heart was set on killing Jesus – was
much beloved by Medieval organizers of pogroms.
The vicar-general of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, William Shomali, said on Vatican Radio that
“what is happening in Gaza now is a vicious circle of violence”. The
auxiliary bishop then declared that “it’s difficult to know who started
it”. How difficult?
A few weeks ago, in an interview with the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana,
Shomali claimed that “hatred of Christians” is the Talmud itself. "The
Talmud, the holy book studied by the ultra-orthodox, more highly
venerated than the Bible itself, invites religious hatred, speaks badly
of Jesus, and even worse of Mary and, in general, of Christians,” the
bishop said, adding that “in Israeli schools, love for the other is not
taught, but rather the destruction of the other”.
Actually, you can't find the Talmudic passages that talk about Jesus because they've been censored out by Church-inspired governments for centuries. I have a small pamphlet in which all the censored-out words are listed, and in recent years, new volumes based on handwritten texts have added the censored words in the margins. In fact, countless Jewish books were censored to avoid offending the Church's sensitivities.
But as to the matter at hand, Ravasi's comments show that he is totally ignoring the use of 'Palestinian' children as human shields by the terror organizations. We Jews do not have a concept of 'turning the other cheek.' We are taught that if someone comes to kill you, you must kill him first. And yes, that includes 'Palestinian' terrorists.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Catholic Church, Gaza, Hamas, Operation Pillar of Defense, Vatican
'Palestinians' seething: Vatican may recognize united Jerusalem
The 'Palestinians' are seething once again because, in the context of a final status agreement regarding Catholic institutions in Jerusalem,
no distinction is being made between the two sides of the 1949 armistice lines.
Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the agreement meant indirect recognition of Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and of the imposition of Israeli law in part of the West Bank.
France, which has special standing as custodian of holy Christian sites and Christian communities, is also said to be concerned at the apparent latent recognition of the annexation and the economic implications for the communities, and particularly its Christian institutions in the country and the people who are part of them.
However, a well-informed source told Haaretz “there is nothing in the agreement to harm the rights of the Palestinians,” and that the agreement was made with the sovereign State of Israel in its internationally recognized identity, and therefore there was no need for a clarifying preamble.
The Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel is to meet in Rome on Monday and Tuesday. They are to continue talks that took place in Jerusalem last week on matters of disagreement.
But the Church is claiming that there is no change in its traditional position on 'east' Jerusalem, which unfortunately is like most of the rest of the West.
Read the whole thing.
My own view is that none of this will matter in the end, and I am much more interested in hearing how they deal with contentious sites (mentioned tangentially in the article) like David's Tomb.
Labels: Catholic Church, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Vatican
Vatican to reprieve society that brands Jews as 'Christ killers'
Longtime readers may recall
Bishop Richard Williamson, the excommunicated British Bishop who was reprieved by Pope Benedict in 2009. Williamson is a member of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a group which propagates anti-Semitism that brands Jews as 'Christ killers.' Giulio Meotti reports that SSPX may be about to brought back into the Catholic Church under a special arrangement. He suggests that all Jews and Israel ought to be
concerned about that prospect. Many people remember the name of Richard Williamson.
On the same day in 2009 that the Pope’s decree was signed lifting his excommunication, Bishop Williamson was shown on Swedish state television saying historical evidence “is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed” during World War II.
But even if Williamson is just a lunatic anti-Semite, the proto-Holocaust teachings of the Society and the agreement with the Vatican will have historical consequences on Christian relations with the Jews.
The entire Society propagates the worst kind of anti-Semitism.
Their US branch website demonizes “the international Jewry”, “the world wide Jewish empire”, “the Jews as the biggest capitalists”, the Jews as “the founders of Communism”, the Jews as “the enemy of man”. There is also “A defence of Inquisition”.
The South African website claims that “Jews are fulfilling their substitute-Messianic drive towards world dominion”.
The Irish branch calls the Jews “guilty of Deicide” and posits that they “must be baptized”.
The German site is also very clear: “The Jews of now are for sure guilty of the murder of God, as long as they don’t recognize Christ as God and are baptized to atone for the sins of their forefathers”.
The Belgian’s Society website defines the Jewish Messiah as “the anti-Christ of the Apocalypse”.
The Italian Society’s bulletin, La Tradizione Cattolica, calls Judaism “a false cult” and spreads hallucinatory material on “the Jew Karl Marx” and “the Jews sleeping in the shadow of death”.
If the Vatican, which is responsible for the faith of one billion people around the world, welcomes back the Society, it means that the Pope simply has made a strategic decision: enticing Catholic anti-Semites back to the fold is more important than the Church’s relationship with the Jewish people.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: anti-Semitism, Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI
Britain's Roman Catholics to join pro-'Palestinian' bandwagon?
A friend in England writes that in his Christmas Day sermon the leader of Britain's Roman Catholics, Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, spoke of their obligations to speak out against injustice, and he focused on the plight of 50 Palestinian families who are in danger of losing their homes in order to make way for Israel's security barrier.
Right on cue, BBC News 24 Sunday afternoon couldn't resist following that up with an excerpt from an interview in which Nichols spoke of their having farmed that land that Israel now wants for 700 years .
More enemies of Israel thus created via the BBC in 60 seconds, to say nothing of the archbishop's listeners in the packed Westminster Cathedral.
According to my friend, Nichols is a lost cause. While Archbishop of Birmingham in 2009, shortly before his present elevation, he sanctioned the use of a Roman Catholic chapel in Birmingham for a celebration of the birth of Mohammed!
Now if Nichols were really concerned with protecting Christians in the Middle East, there are
far more urgent cases than 50 'Palestinians' whose land may be taken by eminent domain.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that "Christians are being refused refugee status [in the U.S.] and face persecution and many times certain death for their religious beliefs under [Islamic] Sharia [law], while whole Muslim communities are entering the U.S. by the tens of thousands per month despite the fact that they face no religious persecution."
Categorized by theme, November's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed according to theme and in alphabetical order by country, not necessarily severity.
...
Ethiopia: More than 500 Muslim students assisted by Muslim police burned down a church, while screaming "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is Greatest!"]: the church was built on land used by Christians for more than 60 years, but now a court has ruled that it was built "without a permit."
...
Iran: The nation's minister of intelligence said that house churches in his country are a threat to Iranian youth, and acknowledged a new series of efforts to fight the growth of the house church movement in Iran.
Nigeria: Islamic militants shouting "Allahu Akbar" carried out coordinated attacks on churches and police stations, including opening fire on a congregation of "mostly women and children," killing dozens. The attacks occurred in a region where hundreds of people were earlier killed during violence that erupted after President Jonathan, a Christian, beat his closet Muslim rival in April elections.
Turkey: The ancient Aghia Sophia church has been turned into a mosque. Playing an important role in ecumenical history, the church was first transformed into a mosque in 1331 by the jihadist Ottoman state. As a sign of secularization, however, in 1920 it was turned into a museum. Its transformation again into a mosque is a reflection of Turkey's re-Islamization.
...
Iran: Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who caught the attention of the world after being imprisoned and awaiting execution for leaving Islam, remains behind bars as officials continue to come up with excuses to force him to renounce Christianity; the latest is that "everyone is [born] a Muslim." A Christian couple "who had been snatched and illegally-detained" by authorities for eight months without any formal charges, were finally released, beaten again, and have since fled the country. While imprisoned, they were "ridiculed and debased" for their Christian faith.
Kashmir: Muslim police arrested and beat seven converts from Islam in an attempt to obtain a confession against the priest who baptized them. After the grand mufti alleged that Muslim youths were alternatively being "lured" and "forced" to convert by an Anglican priest "in exchange for money," the priest was arrested in a "humiliating" manner. Recently released, his life is now "in serious danger."
Kenya: A gang of Muslims stabbed and beat with iron rods a 25-year-old Somali refugee, breaking his teeth; he was then stripped naked, covered with dirt, and left unconscious near a church. Although he was raised Christian since age 7, he was attacked on the "assumption that as a Somali he was born into Islam and was therefore an apostate deserving of death."
Nigeria: The Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity. When still a terrorist, he "was poised to slit the throat of a Christian victim" when "he was suddenly struck with the weight of the evil he was about to commit." After finding he converted to Christianity, "Boko Haram members invaded his home, kidnapped his two children and informed him that they were going to execute them in retribution for his disloyalty to Islam. Clutching his phone, the man heard the sound of the guns that murdered his children."
There's a lot more.
Read the whole thing. Maybe someone should send the list to the archbishop.
Labels: Catholic Church, Christians in Muslim countries
