(JTA) – The Vatican has backed out of a plan to raise its flag along with the Palestinian flag at United Nations headquarters.
Both the Vatican and the State of Palestine are non-member observer states at the U.N. They had prepared to submit a draft resolution to the body’s General Assembly that would have allowed their flags to fly alongside those of the U.N.’s full member states, according to Reuters. The flags were to have been raised in time for Pope Francis’ visit to New York next month.
But the Vatican pulled out of the initiative Tuesday and asked that the draft resolution not include its name. The Vatican recognized the State of Palestine earlier this year.
“The Holy See does not intend to co-sponsor a draft resolution that the State of Palestine may eventually present on the matter,” the Vatican’s note to the Palestinian delegation said, according to Reuters. “The Holy See asks the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations kindly to remove in its draft resolution any reference to the ‘Holy See’ and any generic reference ‘on behalf of the Observer States.'”
