Maurice Fisher, Israel’s Ambassador in Rome, said there would not be any difficulties about the visit from the fact that the Vatican has never recognized Israel. He pointed out that the Pope’s journey “is of purely religious character.”
“As far as diplomatic contacts are concerned,” he stated, “the situation is the same between the Vatican and Jordan as it is between the Vatican and Israel. There are no established relations but the principal point is that the whole event has nothing to do with politics or protocol. There is free access to the Holy Places for any pilgrim.”
Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff of Rome said that “the spontaneous decision of the Pontiff” to visit the Holy Land “was without doubt dictated by profound religious motives. Since the Holy Places are situated in Israel as well as in Jordan, this visit will not fail to have beneficent effects for pacification among the nations of the Middle East and thus for the peace of the world.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
