Pope Pius XII will recognize a Jewish state in Palestine if the forthcoming peace conference decides on its establishment, Field Marshal Viscount Gort, the new High Commissioner for Palestine, was reported here today as having been told by the Pope.
The report, coming from Vatican City, disseminated by the French Independent News Agency, said that Field Marshal Gort was received by the Pope for a twenty-minute audience last week when Gort was in Rome an route to Palestine.
“The Vatican,” the report adds, “will keep to strict neutrality with regard to the Palestine question and will accept as an accomplished fact any decision taken on this matter by the members of the peace conference. The Pope is animated by great sympathy for the Jews and does not intend to interfere with the realization of their aspirations for a national state of their own. At the same time, however, he believes that Catholic Arabs must not be discontented. The Pope wishes to see the Arab interests in Palestine safeguarded – and the integrity of the holy places insured – on the basis of the 1939 status quo.”
London newspapers reported today that Pope Pius XII received Col. David Sarnoff of New York in a private audience. Col. Sarnoff is now communications adviser to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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