Israel, Vatican: A Magdalene meeting point
By Simon Roughneen
TIBERIAS - The breeze cooling the furnace-like lakeshore funnels down from the
hills, redolent of history like so much else in the Holy Land. One, an extinct
volcano popularized as the "Horns of Hattin", marks the site where Saladin
defeated a Crusader army in 1187. Closer again is the cliff face where over a
thousand years before, Jews are said to have committed mass suicide rather than
be taken captive by the Romans in 67 AD, three years before the destruction of
Jerusalem and a better-known mass suicide at the Masada.
Downhill is the reed-laden lakeshore along the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus
Christ walked. He may well even have preached in a startling new discovery 200
meters from the water's edge at Magdala, thought to be the home place of Mary
Magdalene, five
kilometers from Tiberias and around the same from Capernaum. A synagogue dating
to the first century AD, possibly destroyed during the same Jewish revolt, has
been discovered during excavations for the construction of a new Catholic
pilgrimage center. To date, only six synagogues dating from this century have
been found.
Like many other locations in the country, Magdala is precious to more than one
religion. A seven-branched menorah (a type of candelabra) found at the
synagogue dig is apparently a replica of the iconic menorah held at the Second
Temple, nowadays reproduced on Israel's coat of arms. The temple was destroyed
by the Romans in 70 AD, marking the start of 2,000 years of Jewish dispersal
prior to the formation of Israel in 1948.
Back in Jerusalem, some of the most important and poignant landmarks for the
three main monotheistic faiths are located within a stone's throw of each
other. One diplomatic flashpoint is the Cenacle, where the Last Supper is said
to have taken place as well as the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
Underneath is the supposed tomb of King David, founder of Jerusalem and the
Jewish kingdom, and from whom Christ is said to have been descended. The
inter-connectedness - and rivalries - between Judaism and Christianity could
hardly be better encapsulated in one set of buildings. Moreover, a window
inside contains Arabic lettering, relics of the mosque installed in place of
the church after the conquering Ottoman Turks evicted the Franciscan custodians
of the site during the 16th century
Sovereignty over holy sites is a core issue in ongoing negotiations between
Israel and the Holy See.
The Holy See supported the 1947 United Nations Security Council Resolution 181
which partitioned Palestine. However, diplomatic relations between it and
Israel were not established until 1993. Still, they were in close touch long
before, much as the US and Holy See had informal discussions decades before
Washington granted formal recognition in 1982.
Meeting on June 15, Israel and the Holy See agreed to disagree on who controls
the Last Supper Room, removing it - for now - from the basket of bilateral
issues being discussed by the two sides over the past decade.
Speaking inside the Last Supper room, Uri Goldflam, an academic and tour guide
based in Jerusalem, said that Israel is loathe to grant the Vatican control
there as it would lead to it being converted into a church, denying access to
people from other religions.
Catholic scholar George Wiegel countered by telling Asia Times Online that
practice and precedent at other Catholic pilgrimage sites in the country belied
this assumption. The legal status of church properties and communities in
Israel is perhaps the trickiest area of contention. When the region was
controlled by the Ottoman Empire and later the League of Nations, those
properties enjoyed a special legal and tax status - which was apparently
rendered unclear by the creation of the state of Israel.
Theologically, much has been done in the past half-century to pave the way for
a diplomatic relationship. The Second Vatican Council adopted the "Declaration
on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions", called Nostra Aetete
(in our time).
The declaration addresses the church's relationship with all non-Catholics and,
in particular, affirms the deep connection between Christianity and Judaism,
rejecting anti-Semitism "any time and by anyone". Pope John Paul II made an
emotional visit to the Western Wall in 2000, which author Dore Gold says, in The
Fight for Jerusalem, marked a dramatic shift in the "theological
connection between Christianity and Judaism" with the church unlikely to
backslide to what he described as "its formerly ambivalent attitude".
Thus, bilateral negotiations continue amid occasional lurid headlines
suggesting that Catholic-Jewish relations are bogged down in the 'black
legends' of the past. After a deluge of stories about Holocaust-denying former
bishops, Pope Benedict XVI made a successful visit to the Holy Land last year,
though he refused to tour the inside of Jerusalem's Holocaust museum, Yad
Vashem, unless an exhibit depicting World War II pope, Pius XII, as indifferent
to the Shoah, was removed.
Views are divided on the historiography - though these do not manifest
themselves as virulently as the headlines imply. Raymond Cohen teaches
international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He told ATol
that "in Israel people believe that it might have helped had the supreme moral
leader of the world spoken out against the Nazi exterminations of the Jews".
Defenders of the war-time pope say that a more outspoken approach would have
only increased persecution of Catholics and clergy in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Wiegel, a Papal biographer and more recently author of God's Choice: Pope
Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church, says that arguments
over whether Pope Pius XII should have said more will continue, but he adds
that "no serious student of these matters believes that he was indifferent to
the fate of European Jewry, and most now recognize that he ordered Catholic
personnel and institutions in Rome to do whatever they could to save Jews -
which included hiding Jewish refugees at the papal summer villa at Castel
Gandolfo."
In any case, these issues do not appear to affect bilateral relations. Cohen,
who is currently conducting research on Israeli-Vatican relations, added, "The
negotiations are protracted because they are immensely complicated." He added
that both sides "have a good personal and professional relationship". Neither
side gives away much, often issuing laconic joint statements. The last, dated
June 16, included the following, "The plenary welcomed the progress
accomplished by the 'working-level' commission since the previous plenary, and
has agreed on the next steps towards conclusion of the agreement." Both sides
will meet again in December.
Though Jerusalem is famously divided and site of multiple inter-faith turf wars
dating back 2,000 years, the contemplative silence of the Galilean lakeside
might provide a setting for a more ecumenical, collaborative approach.
Father Eamon Kelly is based at the Notre Dame Institute in Jerusalem, which is
overseeing the construction of the Magdala center. He said the site "will be
important for religious dialogue - between various Christian denominations and
between Christians and Jews, and a location where all can be together".
Simon Roughneen is a foreign correspondent. He visited the Holy Land
during June. His website is www.simonroughneen.com.
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