Posted on 11/11/2004 7:16:53 AM PST by SJackson
The Vatican has praised Yasser Arafat as a charismatic leader who struggled to win independence for his people, and repeated its support of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Pope John Paul, who last met Arafat in 2001, retreated into private prayer when he was told of the death of the Palestinian leader earlier on Thursday in Paris, a Vatican source said.
The Pope, who made a historic trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2000, sent a message saying he was particularly close to the Palestinian people "in this hour of sadness".
The 84-year-old Pope's message said he prayed that the "star of harmony" would soon bring peace to the Holy Land and that both Israelis and Palestinians could live "reconciled among themselves as two independent and sovereign states".
Earlier, a statement by the Vatican's chief spokesman called Mr Arafat the "illustrious deceased" and asked God to grant eternal rest to his soul.
"The Holy See joins the pain of the Palestinian people for the passing of President Yasser Arafat. He was a leader of great charisma who loved his people and tried to guide them towards national independence," said the statement by chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
The official statement was bound to displease Israel because it made no mention of militant attacks, which the Jewish state blamed on Mr Arafat and insists must stop before the stalled peace process can get back on track.
In recent years the Vatican continued to recognise Mr Arafat as the legitimate leader of the Palestinians after Washington and Israel had written him off.
But Vatican officials privately criticised him for what one called "jumping off the peace train".
"There is no doubt that he was a towering figure for his people but his great mistake was not to sign on at Camp David," a senior Vatican prelate told Reuters.
"That was a great failure and a lot of problems stemmed from that," he said. "He missed his date with history."
At a US-brokered a peace summit in 2000 both sides came close to a final accord that would have established an independent Palestinian state, but the talks broke down over the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.
Washington and Israel blamed Mr Arafat for the failure.
Over the past four years, the Vatican's improvement in relations with the Palestinian Authority coincided with a deterioration of relations with Israel.
The Pope repeatedly criticised Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories and last November, the Vatican was shocked when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to Rome for several days but did not ask to see the Pope.
And on this we will disagree till we both turn blue in the face and the sky itself falls on our heads.
Well, God created His Church and you disagree with Him?
"Illustrious," it was mentioned, could just mean "prominent" or noticeable. That he was.
True. I should give the pope the benefit of the doubt. But the impression, at least in English, isn't very good. Something may also have been lost in translation.
False about being proud... What I said is that if I had to do it again, I would in a second and that I have no regrets... I said that if I had embryos left over from an insemination, I would gladly give them to stem cell research.
As to being anti christians, the Vatican declaration is a demonstration of why I find christianity not worth too much..
Beside of course the factr that Jesus (if he ever existed) was not the messiah!
Next?
Who are you referring to? Just curious.
Okay, it's just you. We'll go on making the analogy.
La Santa Sede si unisce al dolore del popolo palestinese per la scomparsa del Presidente Yasser Arafat. Egli è stato un leader dal grande carisma, che ha amato il suo popolo ed ha cercato di guidarlo verso l’indipendenza nazionale. Dio accolga nella Sua misericordia l’anima dell’illustre Defunto e conceda la pace alla Terra Santa, con due Stati indipendenti e sovrani, pienamente riconciliati tra loro.
It's an error to translate "illustre" as "illustrious". In Vatican diploma-speak, illustre is a throw-away honorific, intended to convey respect. Its best translation in English would be "distinguished".
Like all governments, the Holy See frequently deals in euphemism or opportune flattery. You can be sure President Bush regularly finds himself offering public compliments that far exceed his private opinions of the recipients.
God didn't create a Church... Pagans who didn't understand Judaism put a neo-platonistic politheistic accretion onto Judaism, and pewsto, you have a cult...
God had nothing to do with it...
Shame on Pope John Paul II.
What historic reality are you from?
What part of this is "bad" or "unChristian" again?
Dave, once the person is DEAD, it's too late to pray for their soul. That is "unChristian" and against what the Bible teaches. Try not to display your ignorance on these matters.
These books are very good historical books...
Alice is fiction... A bit like the NT!
Or added in. Could it be that a journalist might be helpfully stirring the pot? The mind boggles.
Putting it bluntly -- if you do not belong to an apostolic church (the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental churchs are all apostolic), then your teachings are generally the writings of some man (Calvin, Luther, WEsley) and not from God.
Facts... And there is no proof of the historical existence of Jesus... None whatsoever!
It is belief... You believe? Your right... I consider him to be a fiction...
This Catholic says otherwise. There are Gulfs between some Catholics and Jews, just as there are also gulfs between some Jews and Christians. There is inexcusable conduct all around.
Today, though, the Vatican has shamed Catholicism.
Here's a brilliant flash: the apposals were ALL JEWS and they were all the founders of the Church. All the first members were JEWS, many thousands of them. One of the Apostals, Paul ie: Saul the Oppressor was a prosecutor of the Christians for the Jewish Patriarchy in Jerusalem. Gads, get some education on a subject if you're going to open your trap about it.
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