Displeasure Expressed over Pontiff’s Reference to Christian Community in Jerusalem

Displeasure was expressed in Israel government circles today over Pope Paul VI’s references to the Christian community in Jerusalem in his Good Friday sermon. Most observers interpreted the Pope’s words as a clear allusion to the Vatican’s long-standing position favoring special international status for Jerusalem and its holy places. The Pontiff called on the world’s Christians to give “spiritual, moral and material support” to the Christian community in Jerusalem and the Holy Land “where the benign wind of peace still fails to blow.” He said, “We must look with affectionate solicitude to the Christian communities in that Holy Land. They have been sorely tried in the course of history.” He went on to observe that the aid rendered by Christians to their brethren in Jerusalem was not only for the maintenance of Christian shrines but for the functioning of religious and social institutions that aid the poor without discrimination. The Pope also spoke of Christians’ desire for access to their shrines.