Acting in accordance with the recent request of the Pope that Jerusalem be internationalized, the administrative board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference — composed of three Cardinals, five Archbishops and four Bishops last night issued a statement here insisting that the United Nations decision for the internationalization of Jerusalem “be implemented.”
The statement, signed by Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York, Edward Cardinal Money of Detroit, Samuel Cardinal Streitch of Chicago and nine other leaders of American Catholicism, appealed to Catholics in the United States “to use their democratic privileges” to exert pressure on the U.S. Government and the United Nations with a view toward securing the internationalization of Jerusalem.
“Conscious of our sacred duty as leaders of the Catholics in the United States,” the statement said, “we exhort our people to use their democratic privileges in this free nation to obtain from those in our government and in the United Nations continued assurances that the original commitments as to Christian rights in Palestine will be carried out. We Know that millions of American share our sentiments when we repeat that religious and humanitarian rights cannot be obscured or neglected in that land for which every true Christian cherishes deepest devotion.”
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