Israeli President Visits Pope
Israeli President Moshe Katsav made an unprecedented visit to the Vatican this past Thursday, becoming the first Israeli head of state to make an official visit.
This meeting is viewed by many as a big step toward improved ties—a symbol of Israel reaching out to mend a historically troubled relationship. During the 25-minute audience, Pope Benedict xvi and President Katsav exchanged gifts, and Katsav invited the pope to visit Israel. The bbc reported, “Israelis have called Pope Benedict xvi a ‘true friend of Israel’” (November 17).
On the surface, it appears the Vatican is working to resolve a taxation issue over the Roman Catholic Church’s property in Israel. The Catholic Church is currently taxed for the property it owns in Jerusalem, but it seeks “ex-territorial” status for its land, freeing it from the taxes (ibid.).
History, however, provides plenty of evidence that should give Israel pause before it warms to the Vatican too much.
Besides the history of the Crusades—during which the Vatican sought to take control of the Holy City by bloody force—even recent history carries with it some red flags.
Israel has long regarded the Vatican as being biased against Israel in favor of the Palestinians. The Vatican refused to recognize the Jewish state until 1993, forty-fiveyears after Israel came into existence. Pro-Palestinian bias came to the fore when the pope neglected to mention suicide attacks on Israel when condemning terrorist bombings throughout the rest of the world in a statement made in July.
Another point of controversy concerns the church seeking to canonize Pope Pius xii, the last step before declaring him a saint. Pius xii’s legacy has been famously dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism for his failure during World War ii to condemn the Nazis a single time for exterminating Jews. It was also under his administration that the Catholic Church helped many Nazi war criminals to escape Europe in the “ratlines.” (For more on Pope Pius xii, read “The Catholic Holocaust Document.”)
These facts merely hint at the Vatican’s true viewpoint on the Jewish state, in spite of Benedict’s public gestures of reconciliation. The Catholic Church’s designs on Jerusalem remain strong—the most recent clue being the late Pope John Paul ii’s public recommendation that it essentially be stripped from Israel and made an international city. Jerusalem is still considered the major prize to be won for Christendom.
Bible prophecy has much to say about the outcome of Israel’s relationship with the Vatican and the fate of its capital, Jerusalem. It strongly indicates that Israel will move to mend broken fences—and, as its enemies grow more fierce and its situation more desperate, that it will actually come to regard the Vatican as one of its last remaining allies. In the end, however, this move will prove to be a tragic mistake. For more on what lies in store for Israel and the Vatican, read Gerald Flurry’s booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy.
