Vatican Said to Support Right of Jews to Secure, Independent State

A leading member of the Vatican delegation visiting Israel this week said that the Vatican supported the right of Jews to a secure and independent state. But Father De Cotenson, secretary of the Roman Catholic group here for a dialogue with the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, made no response to Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s appeal for the Vatican to formally recognize Israel.

Goren, who met with the group, said he was amazed at the Vatican’s failure to recognize Israel and expressed hope that normal relations would be established. He also insisted that cooperation between Jews and Christians must be on a humanitarian rather than a religious level and that efforts must be made to end hatred between all religious groups. Father De Cotenson affirmed that the Vatican opposed the anti-Zionist declaration made at the recent Christian-Moslem meeting in Tripoli, Libya at which the Vatican was represented.

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef met separately with several members of the International Jewish Committee to discuss the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union and in Syria. Rabbi Joseph Lookstein. Chancellor of Bar Ilan University and chairman of the Jewish Committee defined the dialogue with the Vatican delegation as fraternal. It was the first time that an official body of the Vatican agreed to held interfaith discussions in Jerusalem.