The Vaticans View on the Israeli-Palestinain Conflict

Introduction: The Roman Catholic Church has for centuries been involved in the struggle for the control of the Palestine, a struggle that historians call the great debate. During the twentieth century, especially after the state of Israel and the second Vatican council of 1961-1965, a major change took shape in regards to the direction of the Vatican’s political relations with key countries, namely Israel and Palestine. This change was for the most part based on three major factors: the church’s evolving social content, the new Catholic attitude towards other Abrahamic religions, and the shifting balance of power in the Mideast. Vatican foreign policy, like any other policy of international body, is subject to two variables. The first variable is that there is the overall political environment including both intra -church and external dimensions within which the Vatican which must respond to the Palestinian question. Then there is the personal element regarding the approaches that various popes from Pius X to John Paul II used to the handle the Palestinian question. This paper will explore the following questions and offer answers to them. What stance did Pope John Paul II take to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict prior to becoming pope in 1979? What stance did he take on the issue after he succeeded Pope John Paul I? And, finally what was his attitude in the latter stage of his papacy which ended with his death in April 2005?

John Paul II’s Attitude Towards the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Early Years of His Papacy:
To understand the Vatican’s view on the conflict, it is important to understand how it arrived at the two-state solution, which is its official policy today. Pope John Paul II had a major role in creating this policy, and has had by far a greater influence on the conflict than any other pope.
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla being elected the first non-Italian pope in nearly five centuries came as a shock to Catholics and non-Catholics around

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