Papal Encyclical, 23 October 1948
Pope Pius XII, Encyclical on the Holy Places in Palestine, 15 April 1949
Statement from the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN, 30 June 1980
Address by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN, 10 April 1989
Statement by Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran, 26 September 1992
Statement by the Holy See Press Office Director, Vatican Cuty, 30 December 1993
Address of the Pope John Paul II during the exchange of greetings, 13 January 1996
(…) Paul VI’s call in July 1974 for the recognition of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, months before the UN granted observer status to the PLO.
Several churches had long lasting interests in the Arab Israeli and Palestine questions; most have issued moral pronouncements on the subject. (…).
The threat to Palestinian Christians in Israel and the occupied territories is and especially importrant factor.
It is Jerusalem that has brought us together. It is Jerusalem that urges us to look to the future. And Jerusalem, yet again, wishes to impart its secret, the secret which the Prophet Ezekiel disclosed for all time: “And the name of the city henceforth shall be, The Lord is there” (Ez. 48:35).
Msg Tauran through this message thinks that it is right to thank His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah for the warm welcome extended, as well as for the spiritual joy he has brought by gathering together the comunity for the sake of the Holy City.
William Shomali speech is about the Holy City, center of the Holy See’s concerns and one of its top priorities for international action, ever since the Jerusalem question existed.
He approaches the topic from three viewpoints:
- The Holy See holds Jerusalem to be unique and different from any other city
- The Jerusalem question
- The Holy See and Jerusalem
