A prominent Catholic organization today criticized the Vatican’s decision to award the distinguished Pope John XXIII Peace Prize to UNESCO. The National Catholic Commission for Jewish-Christian Affairs, headed by Father Luc Dequecker, declared that the Vatican decision coming Just after the UNESCO anti-Israel declarations “takes on a very political context.”
Father Dequecker said that his organization has requested the Belgian Catholic church to make known to the Vatican its concern over the matter. The communique further declared that the National Catholic Commission “reaffirms its solidarity with the Belgian Jewish communities.” It added, “We deplore the present tensions, and have, urged, that the Vatican do everything it can to correct the impression of bias in this matter.
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