Post by Watchman on May 22, 2007 13:30:51 GMT -5
By the Los Angeles Times
Rome - Despite their often troubled relationship, the Vatican and Israel on Monday resumed high-level negotiations aimed at settling disputes over property, taxes and the legal status of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land.
It was the first such meeting in five years.
Both sides, in a joint statement, praised an atmosphere of "great cordiality, mutual understanding and goodwill" that produced "important progress" in resolving long-standing issues.
Members of the delegations, however, said serious disagreement remained.
"Today we achieved a significant bit, but there is a lot, lot more work to be done," said the Rev. David-Maria Jaeger, an Israeli-born Franciscan friar who has served as one of the Vatican's key negotiators.
Israel and the Holy See established formal diplomatic ties in 1994, after centuries of bad blood. Relations improved under the late Pope John Paul II, who became the first pontiff on record to visit a synagogue and who stressed the importance of Jewish-Catholic dialogue.
But the treaty that led to formal ties left open crucial details in the legal and financial arrangements between the state of Israel and the Catholic Church - which more than 13 years of on-again, off-again negotiation have failed to resolve.
The Vatican is seeking to retain tax exemptions for a large collection of property, including churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other religious shrines.
Israel, generally, wants the church to pay taxes.
The Vatican also wants disputes over church property, some of it occupied or seized, to be aired in courts under an application of due process, rather than through a political judgment, as is often the case.
Dealings between the two parties are complicated further because of disagreement over whether Israeli law or the Vatican treaty should prevail.
Even with improvements under John Paul, and through visits by Pope Benedict XVI to German synagogues and to Auschwitz, tensions are periodically inflamed.
The parties agreed to meet again before the end of the year.