Praise the Pope for promoting Palestinians



A portrait of Saint Mariam (Mariam Bawardy) hangs in the Bethlehem convent she founded. Photo by Charlie Hoyle.

Vatican recognition of saints symbolic victory for Palestinians

By Charlie Hoyle, Ma’an news
May 18 / 19, 2015

BETHLEHEM — The grounds of the Carmel Convent in Bethlehem, home to blue-shuttered stone buildings on a hilltop facing the Nativity Church, are adorned with the image of Mariam Bawardy, one of two Palestinian nuns canonized by Pope Francis in Rome on Sunday.

Tucked away from the traffic-filled streets of central Bethlehem, the serene convent founded in 1876 is a testament to the life work of the Galilee-born nun, now home to 15 sisters from Palestine, Europe, and Latin America.

“She was a very humble person, full of love and vitality, a complete human being,” one of the sisters at the convent told Ma’an, a sense of pride in her voice.”She worked for people who had nothing, for justice. She had a difficult life, full of poverty, but it serves as a great message for people today.”

Her room at the convent has been well preserved by the sisters, with a white prayer gown hanging on the wall and the remnants of her bandages kept behind glass – the nuns say she suffered from stigmata, the wounds of Jesus Christ, until her death at the age of 32.

The historic ceremony at the Vatican, attended by an array of regional church leaders and President Mahmoud Abbas, celebrated for the first time the veneration of two Palestinian saints – Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas, who was born in Jerusalem in 1846, then under Ottoman rule.

Giant portraits of the women hung high in St Peter’s Basilica facing the crowds, including 2,000 Palestinians, who had gathered for the canonization, with Pope Francis calling the two Palestinian women a “luminous example” for Catholics to follow.

Bawardy was born to a Greek Catholic family and lived in Egypt, France, and India before moving to Bethlehem. Orphaned and illiterate, she suffered dire poverty and tragedy in early life.

While living in Alexandria at the age of 12, she rejected her uncle’s attempt to marry her off and had her throat slit after she refused a servant’s demands to convert to Islam, with her recovery prompting her to enter the church and provide charity to poor families across the Middle East.

Ghattas, known for her piety and love, set out on an educational mission and founded the Congregation of the Holy Rosary, leaving behind a network of convents, schools and religious centers in the Middle East.She is said to have performed many miracles in her life and to have seen the Virgin Mary in several apparitions.


A giant poster of the two new Palestinian saints, who lived under Ottoman rule. Photo by Charlie Hoyle.

‘Palestine on the map

‘The historic recognition of the first Palestinian, and indeed Arabic speaking, saints came only days after the Vatican announced the first bilateral treaty with the State of Palestine since official recognition two years ago.

With a stalled peace process, a decidedly right-wing Israeli coalition, and internal Palestinian division, the recognition of two Palestinian saints – the highest honour bestowed by the Catholic Church — has been interpreted as a positive intervention by the Vatican in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“This is a strong message from the Holy See, from his holiness, that he cares for Palestine and the Palestinians,” Ambassador to the Holy See Issa Kassissieh told Ma’an. “We see it as a religious ceremony but it has a national message. After all, the two nuns are Palestinian Christians and we are proud that we have two saints from Palestine, the birthplace of Jesus Christ.”

Rifaat Kassis, a prominent political community activist and coordinator of Kairos, a local Christian group, says the canonization is significant on many levels, notwithstanding the recognition that Palestinians under Ottoman rule were part of a diverse, productive society, contrary to the mainstream sidelining of Palestinians from the region’s history.”This puts Palestine on the map, among not only the catholic world, but the whole world, and I think this will also help people to understand Palestine and the occupation,” he told Ma’an.

Whether the Vatican recognition of the saints was politically motivated or not, the event signals a desire by Pope Francis to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kassis added, something he views as a “positive sign”.


A wooden icon of Mariam Bawardy inside the Carmel Convent. Photo by Charlie Hoyle.

‘New hope for peace’

The treaty announced last Wednesday will deal with the “life and activity of the Catholic Church in Palestine,” according to the Vatican’s website, and essentially covers issues such as Vatican property, taxes and protocol at holy sites.

The treaty also made reference to diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine, as opposed to the PLO, a clear shift in direction. “This a step forward for a two state solution, or a solution. The Vatican now recognizes the state, and this will make it easier for others to recognize it and forces Israel to make peace,” Yusef Daher, executive secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre, told Ma’an.”We are very proud that our dear land has produced two important persons, humble poor persons who became sanctified by the Vatican.”

“Recognition of the (Palestinian) state is also a good answer in the face of tyranny to peace that the Israeli election produced”.

A representative from the media office of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that the canonization of the two Palestinian saints is at heart a spiritual event which could have a social impact in teaching Palestinians about how to “live with serenity in the midst of all our problems,” an existential inspiration rather than a political influence.

It is also a message to the world that the Middle East is not just about media headlines on IS and irrational violence, that the Arabic speaking people have a rich history and there are diverse communities in the Middle East, such as the Christian minority whose presence dates back to the time of Christ.”It shows that this land is not a violent land, that there are people working for peace and tolerance. It is a land which stands for serenity too,” the Latin patriarchate representative said.”The canonization is a new hope for peace in this land.”

An estimated 2,000 pilgrims from Palestine celebrate two new Palestinian nuns (among four new saints) as well as the tacit recognition of the new state. St Peter’s Square. Rome, on May 17, 2015 Photo by Alverto Pizzoli/ AFP


 

Will Vatican’s Palestine reference impact Jewish-Catholic ties?;

By Ron Kampeas. JTA
May 19, 2015

WASHINGTON – When considering the Vatican’s creep toward recognition of Palestinian statehood, think “Israel-Vatican” and not “Jewish-Catholic,” say Jewish officials involved in dialogue with the church.

A May 13 announcement on an agreement regarding the functioning of the church in areas under Palestinian control raised eyebrows in its reference to the “State of Palestine.”

The upset was compounded by confusion over whether Pope Francis, in a meeting over the weekend with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, praised him as an “angel of peace” or urged him to attain that vaunted status. On Tuesday, a Vatican spokesman said it was “very clear” that the pope was “encouraging a commitment to peace.”

But the Vatican’s shift from terming its Palestinian partner as the Palestine Liberation Organization — the designation Israel accepts — to calling it Palestine comports with a shift in Europe toward accommodating Palestinian statehood aspirations, the Jewish officials said.

Referring to a State of Palestine was “disturbing, but not critical,” Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director, said in an interview with JTA.

Catholic-Jewish relations and diplomacy between Israel and the Vatican are “on different tracks,” Foxman said.
Israeli officials, speaking anonymously, said they were “disappointed” in the use of State of Palestine.

“Such a development does not further the peace process and distances the Palestinian leadership from returning to direct bilateral negotiations. Israel will study the agreement and consider its next step,” an official told the French news agency AFP.

A number of congressional Republicans also expressed “disappointment” in the pope, Politico reported.

Marshall Breger, a professor at the Catholic University of America’s School of Law who has led a number of Jewish dialogues with other faiths, said the use of the term Palestine was the product of an evolution in how the international community is treating the Palestinian question.

“De facto, the Vatican has accepted Palestine as a state,” he said. “It just adds one more country to the over 130 that have recognized Palestine.”

The issue is a matter of diplomacy and does not breach the sensitive issues under discussion between Jews and Catholics as they mark the 50th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate, the declaration that absolved Jews of responsibility for Jesus’ death, Breger said.

“It’s a minor event,” he said. “It should not interfere with Jewish-Catholic relations.”
Using Nostra Aetate as a basis, Jewish and Catholic officials over the years have addressed problematic references to Jews in the Catholic liturgy and the role of the Vatican during the Nazi period.

Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, told The Washington Post that the “Palestine” reference amounted to “appeasement of radical Muslims” and signalled “the historical Catholic enmity towards Jews.”

For the most part, however, Jewish organizations dealing with the Vatican were concerned about the statement, but only insofar as it represented another success in efforts by the Palestinians to secure statehood recognition outside the context of negotiations with Israel.

“We are fully cognizant of the Pope’s good will and desire to be a voice for peaceful coexistence, which is best served, we believe, by encouraging a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, rather than unilateral gestures outside the framework of the negotiating table,” David Harris, the American Jewish Committee director, said in a statement.

Weighing in with similar statements were the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Union for Reform Judaism.

When the Vatican launched talks with the Palestinians in 2000, it referred to the other side as the PLO, but over time shifted to Palestine. Pope Francis in his 2014 visit to Israel and the West Bank spoke of “my presence today in Palestine” during a Bethlehem stop and referred to “the good relations existing between the Holy See and the State of Palestine.”
Daniel Mariaschin, the director of B’nai B’rith International, said the recognition of Palestine raised concerns, but they must be seen in the context of an increased willingness in Europe to recognize Palestinian statehood and not of Jewish-Catholic relations.

He likened it to the French and British parliaments recent non-binding recognitions of Palestine and Sweden’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood.

“It’s important, I won’t dismiss it, but it shouldn’t be seen outside that broader context,” Mariaschin said. “It raises the expectations of Palestinians to unmeetable levels and frustrates the Israelis who say we can’t get a fair deal in the international community.”

Obama administration officials continue to maintain that recognizing Palestine outside the context of peace talks is counterproductive. However, prompted in part by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s seeming election eve retreat from supporting a two-state solution, they now will not count out withholding the U.S. veto should the U.N. Security Council consider a Palestinian statehood resolution.

Seymour Reich, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, who also has been involved in Jewish-Catholic dialogue, said the Palestine recognition should serve as a “wake-up call” for Israel.
“It doesn’t affect [Vatican] relations with Israel at all,” Reich said.

Instead, he argued, Vatican recognition of Palestine is another manifestation of European disaffection with Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish policies and the expansion of settlements.

“It just puts more pressure on the Israeli government,” Reich said.

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