John Paul II Makes a Christmas Plea for Peace on Earth Special Mention of Iraq, Holy Land and Africa, VATICAN CITY, DEC. 25, 2004 (ZENIT.org)

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 25, 2004 (ZENIT.org).- John Paul II made a strong plea to the Infant Jesus for peace on earth, as the Holy Father observed the 27th Christmas of his pontificate.

The Pope read his traditional Christmas message at midday today prior to imparting his blessing to Rome and to the world, before thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square under rainy skies.

His words were broadcast to 72 countries, including Muslim nations -- Turkey, Morocco, Algeria and Indonesia.

The Holy Father, who had celebrated Midnight Mass, gave his greeting in 62 languages, including Hebrew and Arabic. After his greeting in Chinese, he raised his glance, as if expecting a response.

"Babe of Bethlehem, Prophet of peace," he implored in his message, "encourage attempts to promote dialogue and reconciliation, sustain the efforts to build peace, which hesitantly, yet not without hope, are being made to bring about a more tranquil present and future for so many of our brothers and sisters in the world."

"I think of Africa, of the tragedy of Darfur in Sudan, of Côte d'Ivoire and of the Great Lakes Region," the Pope said. "With great apprehension I follow the situation in Iraq. And how can I fail to look with anxious concern, but also invincible confidence, towards that Land of which you are a son?

"Everywhere peace is needed! You, Prince of true peace, help us to understand that the only way to build peace is to flee in horror from evil, and to pursue goodness with courage and perseverance."

"Men and women of good will, of every people on the earth, come with trust to the crib of the Savior!" the Holy Father exhorted. "Hasten to meet him; he comes to teach us the way of truth, peace and love."

John Paul II spoke for more than a half-hour. On Sunday he plans to lead the praying of the midday Angelus. On Dec. 31, in St. Peter's Basilica, he plans to participate in the praying of the "Te Deum" in thanksgiving for the graces of 2004.

On Jan. 1 he is scheduled to preside at a Mass on World Day for Peace.

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Christmas, peace in the Holy Land, peace on earth by Pietro Sambi , For the Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem, the birth of Christ and the faith of Christians and pilgrims are a source of optimism and peace. Tentative steps towards dialogue between Israel and Palestine and the attention of the world and the Church are signs of hope. , 23 December, 2004 ISRAEL – PALESTINE – VATICAN, Jerusalem (AsiaNews)

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – As Christmas approaches Christians ask themselves: Am I an optimist or a pessimist? The answer is found in a prayer in the season’s liturgy: “Lord, we feel unworthy servants of Thee and sadly feel all the evil that makes our life empty. Give us however the joy of the birth of Your Son who came to save us”,

The first part of this prayer speaks to what lies behind our pessimism; the second highlights the reasons for our optimism.

At no other time of the year and in other place but in Bethlehem can one feel so close to God. Born like me, flesh like me, he travels with me in my life.

Loneliness ends as we kneel in faith and love before the Child in Bethlehem. Emmanuel—God with us—and who shall be against us? Our sense of emptiness ends because when we are with God we have everything. Our sense of desperation ends because when we know God is beside us we become uncommonly strong and courageous.

My wish for all Christians in the world and all people of good will is that they may simply and humbly recognise the presence of God, see His face and experience the Christian sense of life.

Although in Israel and Palestine, optimism and pessimism take turns, I believe we need the former for pessimism makes you throw up your arms and become passive as your creativity wilts. Optimism, by contrast, allows you to escape the prison of the moment for it knows how to plant a seed on the other side of the divide, a seed that will grow into a better tomorrow.

There are signs of optimism in the Holy Land, signs of good will and peace. A new page has been turned that only waits to be written.

I have always said that the key to peace in many parts of the world are found in Jerusalem. Peace in the Holy Land means peace elsewhere. As the Pope said: “Peace is possible. It is not an option, it is a duty”.

There may be signs of peace but they are not yet legion. The wall is still being built and people are still dying. Hence, we need deeds that counter the current situation. But the first signs are there, visible in the small steps taken by Israeli and Palestinian authorities, expressions of a will for peace.

Many world leaders in recent days have said that they will commit themselves to bring peace to the Holy Land. More and more people are conscious that peace here means peace elsewhere.

In conflict that has lasted too long, Christians are both victims and bearers of hope. They may be just 2 per cent of the people who call the Holy Land home, but witness is not measured in quantity but in the quality of the signs given, and Christians are a sign of reconciliation. And this sign will be as strong as the tie that binds Christians around the world to Christians living across the Holy Land.

Reconciliation is also measured by the number of pilgrims who walk the streets of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth in the footsteps of Jesus, praying without hatred in their eyes, friendship towards Jews and Palestinians in their heart.

Walking in the land of Jesus, Christian pilgrims personally reconcile with God. In so doing, they are a sign of reconciliation in the Holy Land.

Israeli-Holy See Negotiations to Resume in 2005 Confirmed by Ambassador Oded Ben-Hur, ROME, DEC. 22, 2004 (ZENIT.org)

ROME, DEC. 22, 2004 (ZENIT.org).- The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See announced that Israel and the Vatican are close to finalizing negotiations on juridical and economic questions.

Oded Ben Hur confirmed that the next meeting between both parts will take place Jan. 13, according to Vatican Radio.

The diplomat made the announcement during his intervention Tuesday in a debate with Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, organized by the Gregorian University, in a series of encounters on the topic: "The Catholic Church and Judaism from Vatican II Until Today."

On Dec. 15 the Israeli government told the Holy See that its delegation would not attend the meeting planned that day to negotiate the exemption of the Church from municipal taxes, reported AsiaNews.

The Fundamental Agreement signed by both parties in 1993 awaits the conclusion of the ongoing talks to recognize its validity. With the signing of the 1993 accord, the Holy See accepted the Israeli petition to establish diplomatic relations.

The document enunciates the regulatory principles of the relations between Israel and the Church, while it proposes a series of complementary agreements, to be negotiated successively, that would assure the liberty and the rights of the Church in Israeli territory.

These negotiations until now have produced one agreement in 1997: the civil recognition of the judicial personality of the Church and of its ecclesial entities, but this has not yet been transformed into a law of the state.

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Vatican delegation astonished by cancellation of meeting with Israel, CathNews, Dec. 17, 2004

Vatican delegation members were astonished on Wednesday when a meeting with the Israeli Foreign Ministry aimed at finalising taxation issues was cancelled hours before the meeting was to take place.

"The reaction in the church to the last-minute cancellation is astonishment at what appears to be a pattern of last-minute, unilateral cancellations by Israel of crucially important meetings," a source close to the Vatican delegation told Catholic News Service.

No reason was given for the cancellation, he said.

"This was a meeting for which (the Israelis) were preparing for 12 years," he said. "Every time we are getting close to an issue they withdraw. It is very perplexing. How can the issue be resolved if they won't even talk about it?"

The source said there were to be two meetings, one to finalize the taxation question and a follow-up the next day to discuss the implementation process of the hoped-for agreement.

The two delegations met yesterday to discuss technical issues left over from other meetings. Two major issues still needed to be negotiated: the local property tax issue and the issue of right of due process over church property disputes, the source said.

The Vatican delegation has begun to feel the need for a change in the level of Israeli representation at the meetings because the people who have been attending the meetings are "low-level functionaries with no authority to negotiate," said the church source.

The tax issues are important for the church but trivial for Israel, he said.

The source said that regarding taxes the church was seeking to "confirm an exemption which was in place when Israel became a state and which was in place until two years ago."

The church also is asking that property disputes be "decided in court and not by politicians," the source said.

Another meeting is scheduled for 13 January.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment.

Agenda change in Israel-Holy See talks , 15 December, 2004 ISRAEL – VATICAN, Jerusalem (AsiaNews)

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – The Israeli government informed the Holy See at the last moment that its delegation would not take part in today’s talks, this according to news agencies reports. The cancelled meeting between Israeli and Vatican representatives was scheduled to discuss the issue of municipal tax exemptions for the Church.

AsiaNews sources in Jerusalem confirmed that the two delegations did not meet.

Tomorrow’s scheduled meeting is still expected to take place but without any certainty as to what will be discussed.

News agencies report that Israel’s Ambassador to the Holy See referred to ‘contingent factors’ to explain the cancellation, stressing however that “the parties will discuss next month” the issues at the centre of the talks”. (DS)

Israeli envoy hopeful on pact with Vatican , Rome, Dec. 03 (CWNews.com)

Rome, Dec. 03 (CWNews.com) - The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Oded Ben Hur, is optimistic about the prospects for diplomatic agreement between the Vatican and Israel, and reports that negotiations to complete a juridical pact are "well advanced."

In the "Fundamental Accord" that paved the way for diplomatic relations in 1994, the Holy See and Israel agreed to conclude further agreements that would resolve the juridical and economic status of the Church in the Holy Land. But the Israeli envoy admitted that negotiations "have limped along for over ten years, until they came to a virtual standstill because of our own foot dragging.”

Under pressure from the US, Israel renewed the diplomatic talks in July of this year, and since that time representatives of the two sides have met seven times. Ben Hur told a press conference in Rome that Israeli negotiators were showing a "real and serious intention" to wrap up the negotiations-- an attitude which, he conceded, was not evident in the past.

The Israeli ambassador reported that negotiations had resolved most of the contentious issues involving the economic and legal status of Catholic institutions. The two sides, he said, had hammered out agreements regarding the tax status, ownership, and boundaries of Catholic churches, schools, hospitals, monasteries, and other institutions.

One key question remains unresolved: the status of the Catholic Church in the Israeli judicial system. The current law in Israel-- which dates back to the British mandate in 1920, prior to the establishment of the Israeli state-- stipulates that secular courts should not judge religious issues. This stance becomes a problem when different religious bodies advance conflicting claims on church properties.

Israeli negotiators will resume their talks with Vatican officials in mid-December, hoping to resolve the remaining difficulties.

Questioned by reporters about the difficulties that Catholic priests and religious had encountered in renewing their visas, Ambassador Ben Hur said that the problem had been resolve, after the visit by Israeli interior minister Avraham Poraz to Rome in September of this year.

The Israeli envoy also expressed some new optimism about the prospects for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He voiced his delight with the joint statement by the Israeli and Palestinian tourism ministers, urging Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, and said that pilgrims could provide an invaluable service to the peace process with their visits.