Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that Benedict XVI had told him he hoped he would be able to visit the Holy Land in 2007.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that Benedict XVI had told him he hoped he would be able to visit the Holy Land in 2007.
During a papal audience today, Peres, a senior Kadima party politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, transmitted to the Holy Father the invitation presented by interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls published a statement after the audience, confirming the invitation but making no mention of a date for the trip.
“In the talks there was an exchange of opinions on the topic of peace in the Holy Land, in respect of the United Nations resolutions and agreements reached to date,” the Vatican spokesman said.
“In this context, all forms of terrorism, regardless of any pretext to justify them, were unanimously condemned,” Navarro Valls noted.
He added: “Relations between the state of Israel and the Holy See were also examined — in the light of agreements endorsed in 1993 and 1997 — as well as the relations of Israeli authorities with the country’s Christian communities.”
After being received by the Bishop of Rome, Peres met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
On hand were Oded Ben-Hur, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, and Monsignor Pietro Parolin, undersecretary of the Vatican section for relations with states.
