Vatican-Israel Commission Reports Some Progress

The Holy See and Israel are making progress in negotiating fiscal issues and the legal status of Church property, a bilateral commission said.

The Holy See and Israel are making progress in negotiating fiscal issues and the legal status of Church property, a bilateral commission said.

The Israel-Holy See Permanent Bilateral Commission, in which both countries are represented, met on Monday in Jerusalem. The last meeting was Dec. 13.

At the end of the three-hour meeting, the delegations published a joint communiqué that mentioned “an atmosphere of great cordialness” and “some progress” in the effort to elaborate an agreement on fiscal and property issues.

Vatican Radio reported that the communiqué stated that the commission’s next meeting will be a plenary session at the Vatican.

The commission’s last plenary meeting was in 2002. Previous meetings were held in 1995 and 1998.