United Nations Secretary Dag Hammarskjold had a private audience with Pope Pius XII today during which the Pope reiterated the Vatican’s interest in Jerusalem and the Holy Places and its view that they should be internationalized. The Pope also expressed a deep concern for peace.
Mr. Hammarskjold, who is in Rome on his Security Council mission to seek pacification of the Arab-Israel borders, expressed his hope of achieving an agreement in the Middle East, although he is conscious of the difficulties involved. Mr. Hammarskjold is scheduled to lave Rome tonight for Israel. At the last minute he changed his plans to proceed to Beirut where he originally intended to set up headquarters.
After the audience, reliable sources close to the Vatican underlined that the Catholic Church has a direct interest only in the Holy Places and the internationalization of Jerusalem which, it believes, will contribute to peace. These sources excluded the possibility of the Vatican serving as a mediator in the Middle East, stressing that the Vatican and Israel do not have diplomatic relations.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
