Englishman Appointed Apostolic Delegate to Egypt and Palestine

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Father Paschal Robinson, an English member of the Franciscan Order and formerly Apostolic Visitor for Palestine, has been appointed by the Pope as Apostolic Delegate for Egypt and Palestine. He is the first Englishman to be appointed to this post. Father Robinson was consecrated by the Pope as Titular Archbishop of Tiana.

Father Robinson was appointed by the Pope as Apostolic Visitor to Palestine at the beginning of 1926. He returned to Rome from his mission to the Holy Land about six months later and reported to the Pope in person on the situation in several interviews in which he dealt also with the position created in Palestine in connection with the growth of Jewish immigration and the Zionist problem. Father Robinson is understood to be friendly toward the Jewish work in Palestine.

In his new post, Father Robinson takes precedence of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Monsignor Barlassina, who is an avowed anti-Zionist and who has been reported to be in strained relations with the Franciscan Order to which Father Robinson belongs.

The appointment of Father Robinson is regarded as a demonstration of the desire of the Vatican to be in good relations with the British Mandatory Power in Palestine, a desire which was demonstrated also by the elevation in 1925 of Monsignore Godric Kean, an Englishman, to be Auxiliary Patriarch in Jerusalem. It was stated at that time that the Vatican regarded Monsignor Kean’s position as of great value in the furtherance of its efforts to bring about a friendly understanding with the British Mandatory in Palestine on the subject of the rights of the Catholic Church in Palestine and the regulation of the question of the Holy Places.