USCC News Release: Archbishop Keeler Welcomes Agreement Between Holy See and Israel (1993)

USCC News Release: Archbishop Keeler Welcomes Agreement Between Holy See and Israel by Msgr. Frank Maniscalco, December 30, 1993

WASHINGTON--At a December 30 news conference, in the presence of the papal nuncio and the ambassador of Israel, Baltimore Archbishop William H. Keeler, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference, welcomed the signing today of a fundamental agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel. "We pray," he said, "this accord will be another arch in the edifice of peace that must be built in the Middle East."

Under terms of the agreement, the signatories plan to exchange ambassadors in this coming year. "Catholic and Jewish Americans," the Archbishop said, "can welcome together the normalizing of relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel which today's signing sets in motion." The normalization of relations, the Archbishop added, marks "a major step forward in the dialogue of reconciliation between the Roman Catholic· Church and the Jewish people emphasized by the Second Vatican Council."

According to Church officials, the key to the agreement consists in the affirmation of religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The treaty, Archbishop Keeler said, "will permit not only the Catholic Church, but other historic religious communities as well, to play a responsible role in Israeli national life."

jw50.pdf