Pope, Vatican officials meet with Israeli interior minister

Published: 2004-09-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II and top Vatican officials met with Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz to discuss the church's ongoing difficulties in Israel. The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, secretary of relations with states, met in the Vatican Sept. 14 with Poraz, together with Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See Oded Ben-Hur and other Israeli officials. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the talks centered on issues directly under the interior minister's jurisdiction, including entry visas to Israel for church personnel and the tax-exempt status of the church. In his Sept. 14 statement, Navarro-Valls did not mention what Poraz and the pope talked about in their meeting at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. At the Vatican, Cardinal Sodano focused discussions on the issue of entrance visas to Israel for religious personnel, the statement said. Earlier this year, some 52 religious were denied visas to work in Israel. As of April this year, 138 religious were trying to obtain permission to work in the Holy Land.

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