Pope Benedict XVI Hints He Will Visit Israel Next Year
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
ROME – Pope Benedict XVI is considering visiting Israel in 2007, a former Israeli prime minister, Shimon Peres, said yesterday after meeting the pontiff at the Vatican.
“He indicated that he may do it in the first part of next year,” Mr. Peres told a news conference after renewing an invitation first made by Prime Minister Sharon last year.
A Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, confirmed the invitation had been extended but gave no details on the pope’s response.
Mr. Peres said he did not think a dispute between the Vatican and Israel over taxation of church properties would stop a papal visit. Some analysts have suggested the pope might not make the trip until the issues are worked out.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner also dismissed concern that the pope would not visit while the terrorist group Hamas leads the Palestinian Arab government, saying: “I hope that by then the problem will not remain. Hamas made a government, but I don’t see how they can govern.”
Pope John Paul II visited the Holy Land in 2000, meeting with Israeli officials and Palestinian Arab leader Yasser Arafat during a stop in the Palestinian Arab territories.
