Mideast peace push focus of No. 10 talks
Published: 1st November 2007
LONDON: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had a "meeting of minds" in talks last night with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on taking forward the Middle East peace process. On the second official day of the king's state visit, the two leaders had "very positive" discussions on Middle East regional issues. The talks were held at Brown's office in Downing Street in London. "They also talked about education internationally as one of the ways of combating extremism and terrorism," a spokesman said.
King Abdullah later held talks with Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and David Cameron, the main opposition Conservative Party's leader.
* King Abdullah will make an unprecedented visit to the Vatican next week. He will have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI on November 6.
Queen hails Riyadh's peace role
LONDON: British monarch Queen Elizabeth has praised Saudi Arabia for its fight against terrorism and its campaign for peace in the Middle East.
She was speaking as she hosted a state banquet for Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah during his official visit to London.
The Queen called for stronger co-operation and increased mutual understanding, to combat those who seek to use religion to divide the world.
"Our friendly relations go back many years. There are times when we have worked together against threats to our common security," she told King Abdullah in her speech at the banquet.
"And whilst times change, I believe that the links and knowledge, the experience and the friendships that have been built up over the last hundred years still stand us in good stead today and will do in the future.
"We have shared values that stem from two great religious traditions based on Abrahamic faiths.
"In a world where some people seek to exploit religion to undermine our
societies, we must continue to work together to promote common values, strengthen mutual understanding, and encourage appreciation of what is best in both our cultures."
The Queen praised Saudi Arabia's progress and role in the Middle East peace drive. "We have watched with great interest your work to lead the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia forward, whilst respecting its traditions and deeply held beliefs,"
she said.
"We have appreciated and admired Saudi Arabia's role in the search for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, in particular Your Majesty's own personal contribution through the Arab Peace Initiative. We will continue to support your efforts in the cause of peace in the region."
Relations between the two countries go back many years, said the Queen. "Many British people have benefited from Saudi hospitality over the years as traders, experts and advisers," she said.
"Twenty-five thousand British nationals carry out pilgrimage annually to Mecca and to Medina and they are particularly grateful for the enormous effort that the Saudi authorities put
into ensuring a safe and
successful visit.
"The relationship between us has grown deeper and wider as you are working to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy.
"The two-way exchange of trade and investment is flourishing, with this country now benefiting from inward investment from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while links between our armed forces are stronger than ever.
"Co-operation in education and training is expanding with the welcome help and encouragement of the British Council.
"We also continue to work together against the terrorists who threaten the way of life of our citizens in both countries, and in the search for a more peaceful and stable Middle East, to the benefit of all its peoples.
November 1, 2007
Pope to meet King Abdullah of Saudi
Richard Owen in Rome
Pope Benedict XVI is to meet King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia next week in the first talks between a Saudi monarch and a Pope.
The Vatican said the uprecedented meeting would take place at the Vatican on Tuesday. King Abdullah has been paying a visit to Britain as part of a European tour. The Pope has sought to promote Christian-Muslim dialogue, and last month October opened a three day inter faith conference at Naples which included Muslim representatives.
The Vatican does not have formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, and relations have been strained, with the Holy See demanding "reciprocity" in religious observance. While Muslims are free to practice their faith in the West Christians are not given the same rights in Saudi Arabia. Bibles and crosses are confiscated at the border.
From the Muslim point of view tensions were increased by the Pope himself last year after Benedict, speaking at Regensburg University in his native Bavaria, quoted from a Byzantine Emperor who had suggested Islam was inherently violent. He said he was misunderstood and later expressed his esteem for Muslims.
Last month the Pope met the Saudi Foreign Minister at Castalgandolfo, his summer residence outside Rome, to discuss the Middle East and the "defence of religious and moral values".
Rome, 25 Oct. (AKI) - Five Christian clerics from Italy's top Islamic studies institute have praised the 29-page letter to the Pope issued earlier this month by 138 scholars from every sect of Islam that warned the "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace.
"We are convinced of the good faith of those who produced it," wrote Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, rector of the Rome-based Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in letter that was also signed by PISAI's dean of studies Etienne Renaud, and PISAI professors Michel Lagarde, Valentino Cottini and Felix Phiri.
"We were impressed by the broad scope of this text. Its breadth at the level of the signatories...Muslim personalities from numerous countries of every continent...there was breadth also at the level of the addressees."
The letter issued on 11 Oct. by the Muslim scholars from all over the world was addressed to 28 leaders of different Christian churches, including the head of the Catholic church, Pope Benedict XVI.
"The authors of the letter do not seek refuge in a convenient one-sided protest on behalf of the umma [community of Muslims], but on the contrary, place themselves as partners within humanity," commented the five Christian clerics in their letter.
"The broad sweep of its perspectives is also a noteworthy feature of the text," they said.
They also praised "evidence of deep respect and genuine attentiveness to others," and "a true scientific spirit."
"In this respect, also, we note the emergence of a new attitude," the clerics said.
Their letter is the first response by Christian clerics in Italy to the Muslim religious leaders' 11 Oct. letter. The Vatican has not so far issued an official response.
A letter to the Pope from 38 top Muslim clerics in various countries issued in October 2006 accepted the pontiff's expressions of regret for a controversial speech on Islam he gave the previous month in Regensburg, Germany.
But the October 2006 letter also points out "errors" and "mistakes" in the Pope's speech, which angered Muslims by linking Islam and violence and questioned the concept of holy war or 'Jihad'.
The Pope did not apologise for his Regensburg address, but said he regretted the offence it had caused among Muslims.
PEACE AND SAFETY
Love not the World
WCC and Pentecostals continue ecumenical dialogue in Switzerland
A second round of dialogue between World Council of Churches (WCC) members and Pentecostals was inaugurated last week in Baar, Switzerland.
Posted: Saturday, October 20, 2007, 8:08 (BST)
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A second round of dialogue between World Council of Churches (WCC) members and Pentecostals was inaugurated last week in Baar, Switzerland.
A group of seventeen Protestant, Orthodox and Pentecostal Christians met to re-launch the work begun by the first Joint Consultative Group between the WCC and Pentecostals from 2000 to 2005.
In reflecting on the importance of the meeting, Cecil M. Robeck Jr., professor of church history and ecumenics at Fuller Theological Seminary, who returns as the Pentecostal co-moderator of the group, said “this meeting has given us a very good start on the next five years of our work together”.
Jennifer S. Leath, African Methodist Episcopal Church (USA), who serves as the WCC co-moderator of the group, said she hopes that it will “continue to grow in mutual understanding and will not shy away from difficult questions or challenges for unity”.
After several years of dialogue with Pentecostals from around the world, the first Joint Consultative Group between the WCC and Pentecostals was established by the Harare Assembly in 1998.
The report of the first group was received in 2006 by the Porto Alegre Assembly, which recommended its continuation as an important platform for developing deeper understanding and opportunities for dialogue. Some of the members of the first group were re-confirmed by their churches to serve again, helping to ensure a measure of continuity in the conversation.
The group also took time to reconstruct the story of the dialogue that developed between 2000 and 2005. They also set an agenda for their work in the years to come.
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Finnish Pentecostal Mission, presented an overview of Pentecostal bilateral dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and conversations with the Lutheran World Federation. He stressed how this work has “laid the foundation for continuing Pentecostal involvement in the struggle for the unity of the Church of Christ”.
Harold D. Hunter, International Pentecostal Holiness Church, led a conversation on the “ecclesial gift of charisms”.
Marina Kolovopoulou, Church of Greece, and Cephas Omenyo, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, led a conversation on the “ecclesial gift of sacraments”. Both topics had been recommended for further discussion by the first group.
The group set for its agenda continued theological dialogue on the nature of the church, beginning in 2008 with a study of the marks of the church – Oneness, Holiness, Catholicity and Apostolicity. As the conversation progresses, the group will continue in 2009 with discussion on the nature of mission.
In Baar, the group was hosted at the Focolare Centre and enjoyed an evening of fellowship and culture with the community there. Group members worshipped with local Reformed, Free Evangelical and Syrian Orthodox churches.
The group will meet again in October 2008.
More on Peace and Safety - Peace talks in Armageddon
Top officials from the World Jewish Congress were meeting Monday with Pope Benedict XVI to stress their desire to continue Jewish-Catholic collaboration despite recent internal feuding at the group.
Billionaire and WJC president Ronald Lauder and the group's new secretary general, Michael Schneider, were meeting with Benedict and the Vatican's official in charge of relations with Jews, Cardinal Walter Kasper.
At a dinner Sunday attended by Kasper and several Vatican cardinals, Schneider acknowledged that relations with the Vatican had been "unfortunately put in abeyance" because of a management shakeup at the organization.
But he said the group wanted "to continue the long relationship between us and the Roman Catholic Church," now that a new leadership was in place.
Pope Unity
Letter urges Islamic-Christian unity
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY
October 12, 2007
LONDON — More than 130 Muslim scholars from around the globe yesterday called for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity, saying "the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake."
In an unprecedented letter to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders, 138 Muslim scholars said that finding common ground between the world's biggest faiths was not simply a matter for polite dialogue.
"If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace," the scholars wrote. "With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants.
"Our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake."
They added that Islam and Christianity agree that love of God and neighbor are the two most important commandments of their faiths.
Relations between Muslims and Christians have been strained as al Qaeda has struck around the world and as the U.S. and other Western countries have intervened in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Such a joint letter is unprecedented in Islam, which has no central authority that speaks on behalf of all worshippers.
The list of signatories includes senior figures throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. They represent Sunni, Shi'ite and Sufi schools of Islam.
Among them were the grand muftis of Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Bosnia and Russia, and many imams and scholars. Both Shi'ites and Sunnis represented war-torn Iraq.
Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti who prayed with Benedict in Istanbul's Blue Mosque last year, also was on the list, as was the popular Egyptian television preacher Amr Khaled.
The letter was addressed to the pope, leaders of Orthodox Christian churches, Anglican leader Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the heads of the world alliances of the Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist and Reformed churches.
Archbishop Williams said he welcomed it as "indicative of the kind of relationship for which we yearn in all parts of the world."
"The call to respect, peace and good will should now be taken up by Christians and Muslims at all levels and in all countries," he said.
A Vatican official in Rome said the Roman Catholic Church would not comment until it had time to read the letter.
Aref Ali Nayed, one of the signatories and a senior adviser to the Cambridge Interfaith Program at Cambridge University in Britain, said the signatories represented the "99.9 percent of Muslims" who follow mainstream schools and oppose extremism.
.- John J. Myers, the Archbishop of Newark and Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision, addressed the Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio on July 11. Describing his “awestruck” reaction to his first Anglican Use liturgy, he spoke of the efforts underway to expand the Anglican Use and the Pastoral Provision to “continuing Anglican communities.”
Controversies within the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have encouraged Episcopalian bishops, clergy, and laity to seek reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Last September Jeffrey Steenson, the Episcopal Bishop of Rio Grande, New Mexico, resigned his office to become a Catholic.
Archbishop Myers in his lecture noted that modern ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans had been inaugurated during the historic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury on March 23, 1966. Dialogue since that event has been “quite promising at times” and he said that it continues “because the Catholic Church believes that the Anglican Communion holds a special place in relationship to her.”
“Even though the relationship and dialogue seem strained at times we are obliged to continue to pray and work for unity, to ‘press toward the mark,’ so that the prayer of our Blessed Lord may be realized that all who profess faith in Him may be one,” he continued.
Until that unity is achieved, he said, the Pastoral Provision “serves somehow to close the gap.”
The Pastoral Provision, Archbishop Myers explained, is a means by which individuals from the Episcopal Church can be reconciled with the Catholic Church. It provides to Episcopalians who reconcile with Rome the option to worship in a manner familiar to them, “which many practiced from childhood and which has nourished their faith in Jesus Christ.”
For non-Episcopalians, he said, the Anglican Use provides the worship-enabling beauty of Anglican liturgical action, music, architecture and art. It has even helped Catholics whose practice of the faith lapsed because of liturgical abuses in the implementation of the Novus Ordo reform of the Mass after the Second Vatican Council.
Describing his own experience of the Anglican Use, Archbishop Myers said: “I was awestruck when I first experienced the Anglican Use liturgy at the English College in Rome during a pilgrimage last September. Its beauty was incarnated in the devotion manifested in the exquisite celebration of the Eucharist. I was humbled by the devotion of the faithful and I am encouraged by the fervor of the chapel and parishes that employ the Anglican Use liturgy here in the United States.”
“The Holy See, through the work of the Pastoral Provision, recognizes that there is a legitimate historical patrimony of the Anglican Communion,” he said, citing a sixth-century letter that Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine of Canterbury which encouraged the pioneering evangelist of England to use the best customs of all the Churches in teaching the Catholic Church in England.
Archbishop Myers suggested that those who have benefited from the Pastoral Provision over its 28 years of existence should remember that it was granted “for an indefinite period of time” and presumes obedience to the Holy See.
“Catholic faithful who worship according to the Anglican Use must never see themselves as different from other Catholics or somehow privileged among other Christian Communions,” the bishop exhorted. “We are Catholics together, obedient to the Holy Father, to those bishops in communion with him and ever faithful to Magisterial teaching.”
Concerning the growth of the Anglican Use and the Pastoral Provision, Archbishop Myers said:
“We are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision to include those clergy and faithful of ‘continuing Anglican communities.’ We are striving to increase awareness of our apostolate to Anglican Christians who desire to be reconciled with the Holy See. We have experienced the wonder of several Episcopal bishops entering into full communion with the Catholic Church and we continue to receive requests from priests and laity about the Pastoral Provision.”
Addressing those who have entered the Catholic Church from the Anglican Communion, Myers acknowledged the difficulties they have faced:
“I know that some of you experienced difficulty and anxiety at the time you made the decision to leave what was so dear to you when you felt the Lord calling you to come to the Catholic Church. In some regard your journey has been heroic. The Church is enriched by your struggles for our Lord.”
He noted that John Henry Cardinal Newman, a prominent nineteenth-century convert from Anglicanism who is being considered for beatification, also underwent such struggles. Bishop Myers then recited the entirety of Newman’s poem “Lead, Kindly Light,” whose first line reads “Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,/Lead Thou me on!”
Archbishop Myers closed his address with a prayer for Christian unity, saying “I ask your prayers as I continue to serve you and together may we assist in some small way, those from the Anglican Communion who seek reconciliation with the See of Peter. May the Light, which is Christ, enable those who are lost in the dark to see through the struggles and challenges of our time. May they know that only Christ can bring them ‘holy rest and peace at last’.”Pope Unity - Ecumenical Talks
Muslims to give pope what he wants
Pope Benedict XVI got off on the wrong foot last year when he delivered an address about the role reason might play in driving interfaith dialogue. Garnering the most attention were his inflammatory opening lines, which quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor’s criticism of the Prophet Muhammad. The pope contended that listeners misunderstood his intent: to encourage interfaith dialogue. But more than 100 Muslim leaders from around the world have shown they did not miss the pope’s point after all.
At the National Press Club on Thursday, 138 Muslim clerics, theologians and academics are expected to unveil a letter delivered this week to the pontiff and 25 other Christian leaders highlighting what theological notions the two faiths have in common and how they can work together. (The letter will be posted as soon as it is released to the media.)
Experts tout the document as a historic display of unity among Muslims who lack the centralized authorities and institutions that make organized dialogue easier.
The unprecedented initiative falls on the anniversary of an open letter to the pontiff issued by more than three dozen Muslim clerics in response to his remarks in September 2006 at Regensburg University. The pope had quoted the Byzantine emperor as saying, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Scott Alexander, director of Catholic-Muslim Studies at the Catholic Theological Union, said Thursday’s letter builds on the momentum of the original communique, which aimed to clarify for the pope several of his points. Both letters grew out of a summit held one month after the pope’s remarks.
"The significance of this initiative is that there is no one institution in the Muslim world that speaks for all or most Muslims the way there is in Roman Catholic Christianity," Alexander said. "What is extraordinary and exciting is that the Muslim community is thinking of creative ways to organize itself so it can effectively participate in dialogue on a global scale."
In 2009, the Catholic Theological Union will host another initiative that grew out of the summit. The conference will focus on how a Christian majority can support Muslims as minorities in the West and how a Muslim majority can do likewise for the Christian minority in the Muslim world.
Alexander said he does not understand why the pope opened his speech with the quotes, which generated much "anxiety and disappointment" in the Muslim world. But, he said, the early stages of interfaith dialogue often spark misunderstanding. He said the announcement anticipated on Thursday demonstrates a positive outcome and shows that goodwill can triumph after all..jpg)
» 10/10/2007 14:16
VATICAN
Pope urges prayer for full unity between Catholics and Orthodox
During his general audience Benedict XVI recalls the meeting of the Mixed Commission for theological dialogue between the two Churches currently underway in Ravenna, which, it had been previously speculated, the Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch were to have attended.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – A fresh appeal for Christian unity, in particular between Catholics and Orthodox was made by Benedict XVI today, who at the end of his general audience asked the faithful to pray for the successful outcome of the meeting of the International Mixed Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church currently underway in Ravenna.
At the end of his weekly encounter with over 20 thousand faithful gathered in St Peter’s square – among them also a group of Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka – Benedict XVI recalled that the tenth plenary assembly of the mixed commission is taking place this week in Ravenna, Italy. It is “discussing a theme of particular ecumenical importance: ‘the ecclesiological and canonical consequences of sacramental nature of the Church – ecclesial communion, conciliation and authority’. I ask you to join me in prayer – concluded the pope – so that this important encounter help the journey towards full communion between Catholics and Orthodox, and that they may soon share in the one and same Chalice of the Lord”.
The mixed commission meeting began Monday and continues through to Sunday. It is made up of 60 members, 30 Catholics and 30 Orthodox, and is jointly presided by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and His Excellency Ioannis (Zizioulas), metropolitan of Pergamo. During Benedict XVI’s trip to Turkey last November the idea that pope and patriarch Bartholomew I attend the session had been launched, as a sign of the strong desire between the two Churches to proceed towards unity. However, rumour has it that some Orthodox leaders strongly opposed the idea, first and foremost the Patriarch of Moscow, who maintains that there is no existing hierarchical structure within the Orthodox Church equivalent to the Catholic Church – with one single leader – and that the primacy of the ecumenical patriarch – unlike the pope – is “an honorary” one.
The commission which is due to publish a document at the end of its working session was established in 1979 by Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I, and held its first assembly in Patmos-Rhodes in 1980. These meetings have confronted various questions, but were suspended for a number of years, because of the deep seated disaccord of the Oriental rite Catholic Churches, the so-called uniates.
Today, before his ecumenical appeal, Benedict XVI continued his reflections on the figures of the “Early Church Fathers”, speaking of St Hilary of Poitiers. The “great” 4th century bishop was remembered above all for his “defence of our faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, Son of God and God as the Father”. He fought against the Arians, who believed Jesus was a created being, to confirm instead Christ’s divinity. In the words of the pope he “Hilary’s insight was the importance of our Trinitarian baptismal faith: I baptise you in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit”.
Benedict XVI’s final observation was that for Hilary, “humanity finds salvation in Christ alone”. By becoming human, Christ in fact took upon himself the nature of every man. “This is why the journey towards Christ is open to every individual” even if personal conversion is always required.
PEACE AND SAFETY
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The Pope spoke forcefully against invoking the name of God in any religion "to justify evil and violence."
"Faced with a world lacerated by conflict, where violence is still justified in the name of God, it is important to reiterate that religions must never become a vehicle of hatred," the Pontiff said.
"On the contrary, religions can and should offer precious resources to build a humanity of peace, because they speak of peace at the heart of man."
The Pope addressed scholars and religious leaders attending a three-day inter-faith gathering in the southern Italian port city of Naples. The conference is called "For a World Without Violence: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue."
Less than two weeks ago more than 130 Muslim scholars called for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity, and said the world's survival could be at stake.
The Pope sat down to lunch on Sunday with one of them, Izzeddin Ibrahim, a cultural adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates.
"With respect for the differences between different religions, we are all called to work for peace and an effective effort to promote reconciliation between peoples," the Pope said.
The Pope also met religious leaders including Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, the spiritual head of Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the head of the world's Anglicans.
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
The Pope and The middle East Peace Talks
is in progress.
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI receives a gift from President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Ronald S. Lauder during a private audience at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 8, 2007. Top officials from the World Jewish Congress met Monday with Pope Benedict XVI to voice concern about Iran but also to encourage pursuing a dialogue with moderate Muslims, participants said. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
Jewish Congress Chief Meets With Pope
By NICOLE WINFIELD – 3 days ago
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet;but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Top officials from the World Jewish Congress met Monday with Pope Benedict XVI to voice concern about Iran but also to encourage pursuing a dialogue with moderate Muslims, participants said.
WJC President Ronald Lauder and the group's new secretary general, Michael Schneider, met with Benedict in a private audience at the Vatican.
Schneider said the delegation thanked the pope for his work supporting interfaith relations and invited him to meet with senior Jewish leaders during his planned trip to New York next year.
"We mentioned our extreme anxiety over the Iran situation, not just because of the Jewish angle but because it was a threat to world stability," Schneider said by telephone. "We were extremely anxious to find some way to be helpful in pushing the Iranians to some kind of sensibility."
Schneider said the delegation also repeated the WJC's proposal to reach out to the moderate Muslim world "to establish a dialogue among moderates, and to try to reach some common ground." He said Benedict was in favor of such a move, and voiced "frustration" with the situation over Iran.
Tehran's hard-line leadership increasingly has drawn international criticism over its nuclear program and comments about Israel and the Holocaust.
Schneider said the delegation also addressed the rise in neo-Nazi groups and anti-Semitic sentiments, particularly in Europe.
The group also underlined its commitment to maintaining its "long relationship between us and the Roman Catholic Church" in the wake of a management shake up at the Jewish organization.
The congress, one of the most prominent Jewish organizations, had been beset by a series of problems that culminated in May with the unexpected resignation of then-President Edgar M. Bronfman Sr.
Bronfman fired his longtime deputy, Rabbi Israel Singer, after a 2006 report by the New York attorney general concluded that Singer improperly used WJC funds for personal use. No criminal charges were filed.
Lauder, the son of cosmetics magnate Estee Lauder and a former U.S. ambassador to Austria, was named president in June. Schneider was appointed to his post two weeks ago.
Founded in 1936, the World Jewish Congress is known for its campaign to win restitution from Swiss banks holding the assets of Holocaust victims, fighting anti-Semitism and lobbying to allow the Jews of the Soviet Union to emigrate.
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that claimed 1.5 million lives and displaced more than four million people.
Beshir is accompanied by a large delegation that includes figures from Sudan's mainly Catholic, Christian minority.
The pope in June urged Sudanese authorities to "banish all forms of discrimination" and stressed the importance of religious freedom.
Beshir, who came to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, is also set to meet his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano and the ministers of economic development and transport, Luigi Bersani and Alessandro Bianchi, during a three-day visit.
Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the
east, might be prepared.
Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false
prophet.
Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle
of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together, into a place called in the Hebrew
tongue Armageddon.
Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came
a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a
great earthquake, such as was not since, men were upon the earth, so mighty an
earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the
nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her
the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about
the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the
hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
The deadly wound was healed
Mussolni signs
the Lateran Pact Treaties of Feburary 11, 1929
Giving back power to the Roman Catholic church that was taken away by Napoleon in 1798.
The Lateran Pacts of 1929 contained three sections—the Treaty of Conciliation
(27 articles) which established Vatican City as an independent state,
restoring the civil sovereignty of the Pope as a monarch, the Financial
Convention annexed to the treaty (3 articles) which compensated the Holy See
for loss of the papal states, and the Concordat (45 articles), which dealt
with the Roman Catholic Church's ecclesiastical relations with the Italian
State.
An Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See amended the Lateran
Pacts in 1985.
1. CONCILIATION TREATY +
IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
Whereas the Holy See and Italy have recognized the desirability of
eliminating every reason for dissension existing between them and arriving at
a final settlement of their reciprocal relations which shall be consistent
with justice and with the dignity of both High Contracting Parties, and which
by permanently assuring to the Holy See a position de facto and de jure which
shall guarantee absolute independence for the fulfillment of its exalted
mission in the world, permits the Holy See to consider as finally and
irrevocably settled the Roman Question which arose in 1870 by the annexation
of Rome to the Kingdom of Italy, under the Dynasty of the House of Savoy;
And whereas it was obligatory, for the purpose of assuring the absolute
and visible independence of the Holy See, likewise to guarantee its
indisputable sovereignty in international matters, it has been found necessary
to create under special conditions the Vatican City, recognizing the full
ownership, exclusive and absolute dominion and sovereign jurisdiction of the
Holy See over that City;
His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and His Majesty Victor Emanuel
III, King of Italy, have agreed to conclude a Treaty, appointing for that
purpose two Plenipotentiaries, being on behalf of His Holiness, His Secretary
of State, viz. His Most Reverend Eminence the Lord Cardinal Pietro Gasparri,
and on behalf of his Majesty, His Excellency the Cav. Benito Mussolini, Prime
Minister and Head of the Government; who, having exchanged their respective
full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have hereby agreed
to the following articles:
Article 1
Italy recognizes and reaffirms the principle established in the first
Article of the Italian Constitution dated March 4, 1848, according to which
the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion is the only State religion.
Article 2
Italy recognizes the sovereignty of the Holy See in international matters
as an inherent attribute in conformity with its traditions and the
requirements of its mission to the world.
Article 3
Italy recognizes the full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign
authority and jurisdiction of the Holy See over the Vatican as at present
constituted, together with all its appurtenances and endowments, thus creating
the Vatican City, for the special purposes and under the conditions
hereinafter referred to.
The boundaries of the said City are set forth in the map called Annex I of
the present Treaty, of which it is forms an integral part.
It is furthermore agreed that, although forming part of the Vatican City,
St. Peter's Square shall continue to be normally open to the public and shall
be subject to supervision by the Italian police authorities, which powers
shall cease to operate at the foot of the steps leading to the Basilica,
although the latter shall continue to be used for public worship. The said
authorities shall, therefore, abstain from mounting the steps and entering the
said Basilica, unless and except they are requested to do so by the proper
authorities.
Should the Holy See consider it necessary, for the purpose of special
ceremonies, temporarily to prohibit the public from free access to St. Peter's
Square, the Italian authorities shall (unless specially requested to do
otherwise) withdraw to beyond the outer lines of Bernini's Colonnade and the
extension thereof.
Article 4
The sovereignty and exclusive jurisdiction over the Vatican City, which
Italy recognizes as appertaining to the Holy See, forbid any intervention
therein on the part of the Italian Government, or that any authority other
than that of the Holy See shall be there acknowledged.
Article 5
For the purpose of the execution of the provisions of the preceding
Article before the present Treaty comes into force, the Italian Government
shall see to it that the territory forming the Vatican City shall remain free
from any charge and from possible occupants. The Holy See shall arrange to
enclose the access thereto, enclosing such parts thereof as remain open,
except St. Peter's Square.
It is furthermore agreed that, in respect of the buildings there existing
and belonging to religious institutions or bodies, the Holy See shall settle
relations with the latter direct, the Italian Government having no part in
such arrangements.
Article 6
Italy shall provide, by means of suitable agreements entered into with the
interested parties, that an adequate water supply be fully assured to the
Vatican City. Italy shall furthermore provide for connection with the State
railways by constructing a railway station within the Vatican City on the spot
shown on the annexed map, and by permitting the circulation of railway
carriages belonging to the Vatican on the Italian railways. It shall further
provide for direct connection with other States by means of telegraph,
telephone, wireless, broadcasting, and postal services in the Vatican City. It
shall equally also provide for the coordination of all other public services.
All expenses connected with the arrangements above mentioned shall be
defrayed by the Italian State, within the period of one year from the entry
into force of the present Treaty.
The Holy See shall, at its own expense, arrange the existing means of
access to the Vatican, and those others which it may consider it necessary to
make in the future.
Agreements shall be subsequently concluded between the Holy See and Italy
concerning the circulation, on and over Italian territory, of land vehicles
and aircraft belonging to the Vatican City.
Article 7
The Italian Government undertakes to prohibit the construction within the
territory surrounding the Vatican City, of any new buildings which might
overlook the latter, and shall for a like purpose provide for the partial
demolition of similar buildings already standing near the Porta Cavalleggeri
and along the Via Aurelia and the Viale Vaticano.
In accordance with the provisions of International Law, it shall be
forbidden for aircraft of any kind whatsoever to fly over Vatican territory.
On the Piazza Rusticucci, and in the areas adjoining the Colonnade, over
which the extra-territoriality referred to in Article 15 hereof does not
extend, all structural alterations or street construction shall only be
effected by mutual assent.
Article 8
Considering the person of the Supreme Pontiff to be sacred and inviolable,
Italy declares any attempt against His person or any incitement to commit such
attempt to be punishable by the same penalties as all similar attempts and
incitements to commit the same against the person of the King.
All offences or public insults committed within Italian territory against
the person of the Supreme Pontiff, whether by means of speeches, acts, or
writings, shall be punished in the same manner as offences and insults against
the person of the King.
Article 9
In accordance with the provisions of International Law, all persons having
a permanent residence within the Vatican City shall be subject to the
sovereignty of the Holy See. Such residence shall not be forfeited by reason
of the mere fact of temporary residence elsewhere, unaccompanied by the loss
of habitation in the said City or other circumstances proving that such
residence has been abandoned.
On ceasing to be subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See, the persons
referred to in the preceding paragraph, who, according to the provisions of
Italian law (independently of the de facto circumstances considered above)
shall not be regarded as possessing any other citizenship, shall be regarded
in Italy as Italian nationals.
Notwithstanding that all such persons are subject to the sovereignty of
the Holy See, the provisions of Italian law shall be applicable to them within
the territory of the Kingdom of Italy, even in such matters wherein the
personal law must be observed (when they are not covered by the regulations
emanating from the Holy See) and, in the case of persons of foreign
nationality, the legal provisions of the State to which they belong.
Article 10
Such dignitaries of the Church and persons belonging to the Papal Court as
shall be indicated in a Schedule to be approved by the High Contracting
Parties, shall always and in every case, even when not citizens of the
Vatican, be exempt from military service as far as Italy is concerned, jury
service, and any other service of a personal nature.
This provision shall also apply to regular officials whose services are
considered indispensable by the Holy See, if permanently employed by the
latter and earning a fixed salary, or employed in the Departments or Offices
mentioned in Articles 13, 14, 15, and 16 hereof and residing without the
Vatican City. The names of such officials shall be set forth in another
Schedule to be drawn up and approved as above mentioned, and which shall be
brought up to date each year by the Holy See.
The ecclesiastics whose duty it shall be to participate, without the
Vatican City, in the execution of enactments emanating from the Holy See,
shall not, on that account, be subject to any hindrance, investigation, or
molestation on the part of the Italian authorities.
All foreigners in official ecclesiastical employment in Rome shall enjoy
the personal guarantees appertaining to Italian citizens, in accordance with
the laws of the Kingdom of Italy.
Article 11
All central bodies of the Catholic Church shall be exempt from any
interference on the part of the Italian State (save and except as provided by
Italian law in regard to the acquisition of property made by corpi morali,
[recognized public bodies] and with regard to the conversion of real estate.)
Article 12
Italy recognizes the right of the Holy See to passive and active Legation,
according to the general rules of International Law. Officials accredited by
foreign Governments to the Holy See shall continue to enjoy, within the
Kingdom of Italy, all the prerogatives of immunity enjoyed by diplomatic
agents under International Law, and their headquarters may continue to be
within Italian territory whilst enjoying the immunity due to them under
International Law, even in the event of their State not having diplomatic
relations with Italy.
It is understood that Italy undertakes in all cases to allow the freedom
of correspondence for all States, including belligerents, to and from the Holy
See, as well as free access to the Apostolic See by Bishops from all over the
world.
The High Contracting Parties undertake to establish normal diplomatic
relations between each other, by accrediting an Italian Ambassador to the Holy
See and a Papal Nuncio to Italy, who shall be the doyen of the Diplomatic
Corps, in accordance with the ordinary practice recognized by the Congress of
Vienna by the Act of June 9, 1815, in consequence of the sovereignty hereby
recognized and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 19 hereof, the
diplomats accredited by the Holy See and the diplomatic couriers dispatched in
the name of the Supreme Pontiff, shall enjoy within Italian territory, even in
time of war, the same treatment as that enjoyed by diplomatic personages and
couriers of other foreign Governments, according to the provisions of
International Law.
Article 13
Italy recognizes the full ownership of the Holy See over the patriarchal
Basilicas of St. John Lateran, Sta. Maria Maggiore, and St. Paul, with their
annexed buildings.
The State transfers to the Holy See the free management and administration
of the said Basilica of St. Paul and its dependent Monastery, also paying over
to the Holy See all monies representing the sums set aside annually for that
church in the budget of the Ministry of Education.
It is also understood that the Holy See shall remain the absolute owner of
the edifice of S. Callisto, adjoining Sta. Maria in Trastevere.
Article 14
Italy recognizes the full ownership by the Holy See of the Papal Palace of
Castel Gandolfo, together with all endowments, appurtenances, and dependencies
thereof, which are now already in the possession of the Holy See, and Italy
also undertakes to hand over, within six months after the coming into force of
the present Treaty, the Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, together with all
endowments, appurtenances, and dependencies thereof.
In order to round off the property situated on the northern side of the
Janiculum Hill, belonging to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide and to
other ecclesiastical institutions, which property faces the Vatican Palaces,
the State undertakes to transfer to the Holy See or other bodies appointed by
it for such purpose, all real estate belonging to the State or to third
parties existing in that area. The properties belonging to the said
Congregation and to other institutions and those to be transferred being
marked on the annexed map.
Finally, Italy shall transfer to the Holy See, as its full and absolute
property, the Convent buildings in Rome attached to the Basilica of the Twelve
Holy Apostles and to the churches of San Andrea della Valle and S. Carlo ai
Catinari, with all annexes and dependencies thereof, and shall hand them over
within one year after the entry into force of the present Treaty, free of all
occupants.
Article 15
The property indicated in Article 13 hereof and in paragraphs (1) and (2)
of Article 14, as well as the Palaces of the Dataria, of the Cancelleria, of
the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide in the Piazza di Spagna of the S.
Offizio with its annexes, and those of the Convertendi (now the Congregation
of the Eastern Church) in Piazza Scossacavelli, the Vicariato, and all other
edifices in which the Holy See shall subsequently desire to establish other
offices and departments although such edifices form part of the territory
belonging to the Italian State, shall enjoy the immunity granted by
International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign
States. Similar immunity shall also apply with regard to any other churches
(even if situated outside Rome) during such time as, without such churches
being open to the public, the Supreme Pontiff shall take part in religious
ceremonies celebrated therein.
Article 16
The property mentioned in the three preceding Articles, as also that used
as headquarters of the following Papal institutions - the Gregorian
University, the Biblical, Oriental, and Archaeological Institutes, the Russian
Seminary, the Lombard College, the two Palaces of St. Apollinaris, and the
Home of the Retreat of the Clergy dedicated to St. John and St. Paul - shall
never be subject to charges or to expropriation for reasons of public utility,
save by previous agreement with the Holy See, and shall be exempt from any
contribution or tax, whether ordinary or extraordinary and payable to the
State or to any other body.
It shall be permissible for the Holy See to deal with all buildings above
mentioned or referred to in the three preceding Articles as it may deem fit,
without obtaining the authorization or consent of the Italian governmental,
provincial, or communal authority, which authorities may in this regard rely
entirely on the high artistic traditions of the Catholic Church.
Article 17
As from January 1, 1929, salaries of whatsoever nature payable by the Holy
See, or by other central bodies of the Catholic Church and by bodies
administered directly by the Holy See whether within or without Rome to
dignitaries employed and salaried (whether permanently or not, shall be exempt
from any contribution or tax whether payable to the State or to any other
body.
Article 18
The artistic and scientific treasures existing within the Vatican City and
the Lateran Palace shall remain open to scholars and visitors, although the
Holy See shall be free to regulate the admission of the public thereto.
Article 19
Diplomats and envoys of the Holy See, as well as diplomats and envoys of
foreign Governments accredited to the Holy See, and the dignitaries of the
Church arriving from abroad and traveling to the Vatican City, provided with
passports of the States whence they come duly furnished with the visa of the
Papal representative abroad, shall be allowed free access to the Vatican City
over Italian territory without formalities.
Article 20
Goods arriving from abroad for destinations within the Vatican City, or
without it boundaries for institutions or offices of the Holy See, shall
invariably be allowed transit over Italian territory (from any part of the
Italian boundary as also from any seaport of the Kingdom) free of payment of
any customs or octroi dues.
Article 21
All Cardinals shall enjoy, in Italy, the honours due to Princes of the
Blood. Those Cardinals who may reside in Rome without the Vatican City shall,
for all purposes, be considered citizens thereof.
In the event of the office of the Holy See falling vacant, Italy shall
make special arrangements for the free transit and access of Cardinals over
Italian territory to the Vatican, and shall provide that their personal
liberty is not impeded or limited.
Italy shall also take all measures, within her territory surrounding the
Vatican City, necessary to prevent the commission of any act which may in any
way disturb the meetings of the Conclave.
The same provisions shall apply to Conclave held beyond the boundaries of
the Vatican City and to Councils presided over by the Supreme Pontiff or his
Legates, and with regard to all Bishops summoned to attend them.
Article 22
At the request of the Holy See, or by its delegate who may be appointed in
single cases or permanently, Italy shall provide within her for the punishment
of offences committed within the Vatican City, save and except when the author
of the offence shall have taken refuge in Italian territory, in which event he
shall immediately be proceeded against according to the provisions of the
Italian laws.
The Holy See shall hand over to the Italian State all persons who may have
taken refuge within the Vatican City, when accused of acts committed within
Italian territory which are considered to be criminal by the law of both
States.
The same provisions shall apply in regard to persons accused of offences
who may have taken refuge within the buildings enjoying immunity in accordance
with the provisions of Article 15 hereof, save and except if the persons
having authority within such buildings prefer to request members of the
Italian police force to enter and arrest such persons.
Article 23
The regulations provided by International Law shall apply for the
execution, within the Kingdom of Italy, of sentences pronounced by the Courts
of the Vatican City.
All sentences and measures emanating from ecclesiastical authorities and
officially communicated to the civil authorities, in regard to ecclesiastical
or religious persons and concerning spiritual or disciplinary matters, shall
without other formality have legal effect in Italy even for all civil
purposes.
Article 24
In regard to the sovereignty appertaining to it also in international
matters, the Holy See declares that it desires to take, and shall take, no
part in any temporal rivalries between other States, nor in any international
congresses called to settle such matters, save and except in the event of such
parties making a mutual appeal to the pacific mission of the Holy See, the
latter reserving in any event the right of exercising its moral and spiritual
power.
The Vatican City shall, therefore, be invariably and in every event
considered as neutral and inviolable territory.
Article 25
By a special Convention written below and united to the present Treaty,
which constitutes the IV codicil to the same and forms an integral part
thereof, provision shall be made for the liquidation of the credit of the Holy
See towards Italy. ±
Article 26
The Holy See considers that the agreements signed to-day offer an adequate
guarantee for assuring to it, together with the requisite liberty and
independence, the pastoral administration of the Roman Diocese and the
Catholic Church throughout Italy and the entire world, and it declares the
Roman Question to be definitely and irrevocably settled and therefore
eliminated, and recognizes the Kingdom of Italy under the Dynasty of the House
of Savoy, with Rome as the capital of the Italian State.
Italy, on her part, recognizes the State of the Vatican City under the
sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiff.
The law dated May 13, 1871 (No. 214) and any other dispositions contrary
to the present Treaty, are hereby abrogated.
Article 27
Within four months after the signature thereof, the present Treaty shall
be submitted for ratification by the Supreme Pontiff and the King of Italy,
and shall enter into force as soon as ratifications are exchanged.
Dated in Rome this 11th day of February, 1929.
(Signed) PIETRO CARDINAL GASPARRI
BENITO MUSSOLINI
2. THE FINANCIAL CONVENTION ANNEXED TO THE TREATY ±
The Holy See and Italy having in consequence of the stipulations of the
Treaty which has definitely composed ' the Roman Question ' held it necessary
to regulate with a distinct convention, forming an integral part of the same,
their financial relations;
The supreme Pontiff considering on the one hand the immense damage
sustained by the Apostolic See through the loss of the patrimony of S. Peter
constituted by the ancient Pontifical States, and of the Ecclesiastical
property, and on the other side, the ever-increasing needs of the Church in
the City of Rome alone, and taking into consideration the present financial
condition of the State and the economic condition of the Italian people,
especially after the war, has deemed it well to restrict the request for
indemnity to the barest necessity; asking for a sum partly in cash and partly
in bonds which is much inferior in value to the which the State to-day should
disperse towards the Holy See if only in execution of the obligation assumed
by the law of May 13, 1871.
The Italian State appreciating the paternal sentiments of the Supreme
Pontiff has felt bound to adhere to the request for the payment of the said
sum.
Art. 1. Italy, on the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty, shall pay to
the Holy See the sum of Italian lire 750,000,000 (seven hundred and fifty
millions) and a the same time consign Italian 5 per cent bonds (with coupons,
June 30) of the nominal value of Italian lire 1,000,000.
Art. 2. The Holy See declares that it accepts the above as a definite
systemization of the financial relations with Italy in consequence of the
events of 1870.
Art. 3. All the acts necessary for the execution of the Treaty with regard
to the present Convention and of the Concordat shall be exempt from every form
of taxation.
Rome, eleventh February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.
PIETRO CARD. GASPARRI.
BENITO MUSSOLINI.
3. THE CONCORDAT ±
IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
Seeing that from the beginning of the negotiations between the Holy See and
Italy for the solution of ' the Roman Question ' the Holy See itself has
proposed that the Treaty relating to the said question should be accompanied,
as its necessary complement, by a Concordat to regulate the conditions of
religion and the Church in Italy.
Seeing that to-day a Treaty has been concluded and signed for the solution
of ' the Roman Question.'
His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele
III, King of Italy, have resolved to make a Concordat and to that end have
nominated the same Plenipotentaries delegated for the stipulation of the
Treaty, that is: on the part of His Holiness, His Eminence the Most Reverend
Lord Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, his Secretary of State; and on the part of His
Majesty, His Excellency Cav. Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister and head of the
Government, who having exchanged their full powers and found them to be in
good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:
Art. 1. Italy, in the sense of Art. I of the Treaty, assures the Catholic
Church of the free exercise of her spiritual power, the free and public
exercise of worship, and of jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical matters in
conformity with the norm of the present Concordat, and when it occurs, accords
to Ecclesiastics for the ads of their spiritual ministry defence on the part
of its authority.
In consideration of the sacred character of the Eternal City, the Episcopal
See of the Sovereign Pontiff, centre of the Catholic world and place of
pilgrimage, the Italian Government will take care to impede in Rome whatsoever
may be in opposition with its said character.
Art. 2. The Holy See shall communicate and correspond freely with the
Bishops and clergy of the whole Catholic world without any interference on the
part of the Italian Government.
Equally in everything that concerns their pastoral ministry the Bishops
shall communicate and correspond freely with their clergy and all the
faithful. Like the Holy See the Bishops can freely publish and affix within
and to the external doors of buildings destined for public worship or for the
offices of their ministry, instructions, ordinances, pastoral letters,
diocesan bulletins and other ads concerning the spiritual government of the
faithful which they see fit to issue in the sphere of their competence.
Such publications and affixions and in general all the acts and documents
relative to the spiritual government of the faithful shall not be subject to
any taxation.
Such publications as regards the Holy See may be made in any language,
those of the Bishops in Italian or Latin, but besides the Italian text the
Ecclesiastical Authority can adjoin translations into other languages.
The Ecclesiastical Authorities can, without any interference on the part of
the Civil Authorities, make collections within and at the doors of the
churches and buildings belonging to them.
Art. 3. Theological students in the last two years of their theological
course devoted to the priesthood, and novices of religious institutions can,
at their request, put off from year to year until the twenty-sixth year of
their age the fulfilment of the obligation of military service.
Clerics ordained ' in sacris ' and religious who have made their vows are
exempt from military service, saving the case of a general mobilization. In
such case the priests pass into the armed forces of the State, but conserve
their ecclesiastical habits in order to exercise amongst the troops their
sacred ministry under the ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the military ordinary
in the sense of Art. 14. The other clerics and religious of preference shall
be destined to military service.
Nevertheless, even in the case of a general mobilization, those priests are
dispensed from the call to present themselves who have cure of souls. As such
are considered ordinaries, parish priests, vice-parish priests and coadjutors,
vicars and priests permanently appointed to rectories and churches open to the
public.
Art. 4. Ecclesiastics and religious are exempt from serving on juries.
Art. 5. No Ecclesiastic may be employed or remain in the employment of an
office of the Italian State or any public entity depending from the same
without the nihil obstat of the Diocesan ordinary.
The revocation of the nihil obstat deprives the Ecclesiastic of the
capacity of continuing to exercise the employment or office which he has
assumed.
In any case, apostate priests, or those subject to censure, cannot be
appointed or continued as teachers, or hold office or be employed as clerks
where they are in immediate contact with the public.
Art. 6. The stipends and the other assignments which Ecclesiastics enjoy
by reason of their office are open to mortgages in the same measure as the
stipends and assignments of clerks in the offices of the State.1
1 Stipendiaries of the State are allowed to mortgage one-fifth of their
salaries.
Art. 7. Ecclesiastics cannot be required by magistrates or other
authorities to give information concerning persons or matters which have come
to their knowledge by reason of their sacred ministry.
Art. 8. In case of an Ecclesiastic or religious being brought before a
magistrate for some crime, the Procurator of the King must immediately inform
the ordinary of the diocese in the territory of which he exercises
jurisdiction, and ought care- fully to transmit to the office of the same the
instructional decrees, and where necessary the definitive sentence of the
judgment both in the first grade and also on appeal.
In case of the arrest of an Ecclesiastic or religious he shall be treated
with the regard due to his hierarchical grade.
In the case of the condemnation of an Ecclesiastic or religious the
punishment shall be performed in a place separate from that for lay people,
unless the competent ordinary shall have already reduced the condemned person
to the lay state.
Art. 9. Regularly buildings open for public worship shall be exempt from
requisitions and occupation.
If in consequence of a grave public necessity it is necessary to occupy a
building open for worship, the authority which proceeds to the occupation
should have come to a previous accord with the ordinary, unless the reasons
are of such absolute urgency as to prevent it. In such a case the authority
should immediately proceed to inform the same (i.e. the ordinary).
Saving cases of urgent necessity, the public forces shall not in the
exercise of their functions enter any building open for worship, without
giving previous notice to the Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 10. For no cause whatsoever is it possible to proceed to the
demolition of a building open for worship without previous accord with the
competent Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 11. The State recognizes the Feast-days established by the Church,
which are the following:
All Sundays.
The first day of the year.
The Epiphany (January 6).
The Feast of S. Joseph (March 19).
The Ascension.
The Feast of Corpus Domini.
The Feast of SS. Peter and Paul (June 29).
The Assumption of the B.V. Mary (August 15).
All Saints' Day (November 1).
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8).
Christmas Day (December 25).
Art. 12. On Sundays and feasts of precept in churches which have a chapter,
the celebrant shall sing at the Conventual Mass according to the norm of the
Sacred Liturgy a prayer for the prosperity of the King of Italy and for the
Italian State.
Art. 13. The Italian Government shall give to the Holy See a table of the
Ecclesiastics enrolled in the work of spiritual assistance to the military
forces of the State as soon as they are approved in the mode of law.
The designation of the Ecclesiastics to whom is committed the high
direction of the service of spiritual assistance (the military ordinary, the
Vicar-General and the inspectors) shall be made confidentially by the Holy See
to the Italian Government. Whenever the Italian Government has reason to
oppose such designation, it shall communicate the fact to the Holy See, which
shall proceed to another designation.
The military ordinary shall have Archiepiscopal rank.
The nomination of the military chaplains shall be made by the competent
authority of the Italian state upon the designation of the military ordinary.
Art. 14. The Italian troops by land, sea and air shall enjoy in regard to
their religious duties the privileges and exemptions sanctioned by Canon Law.
The military chaplains in regard to the said troops have parochial
authority. They shall exercise their sacred ministry under the jurisdiction of
the military ordinary assisted by his proper curia.
The military ordinary has jurisdiction also over the religious, both
masculine and feminine, engaged as workers in the military hospitals.
Art. 15. The military Archiepiscopal ordinary is Provost of the Chapter of
the Church of the Pantheon in Rome, constituted by his clergy, to whom is
entrusted the religious service of the said Basilica. Such clergy are
authorized to provide for all the religious functions, even outside Rome,
which in conformity with the Canon Law are required by the State or by the
Royal House.
The Holy See consents to confer on all the canons composing the Chapter of
the Pantheon the dignity of Protonotaries ad instar durante munere. Their
nomination shall be made by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome after presentation by
the King of Italy, a confidential indication being given previous to
presentation.
The Holy See reserves to itself the right to transfer the Diaconia to
another church.
Art. 16. The High Contracting Parties shall proceed to an accord by means
of a mixed commission for the revision of the boundaries of the dioceses for
the purpose of rendering them more in agreement with those of the provinces of
the State.
Moreover the Holy See shall erect the diocese of Zara, and no part of the
territory subject to the Sovereignty of the Kingdom of Italy shall be subject
to a bishop whose seat is found in territory subject to the Sovereignty of
another State, and no Diocese of the Kingdom shall include territory subject
to the Sovereignty of another State.
The same principle shall be observed for all the existing parishes as for
those to be constituted in the territory near the confines of the State.
The modifications which after the enquiry shall be deemed necessary to
arrange the boundaries of the dioceses, shall be disposed by the Holy See in
previous accord with the Italian Government, and in observance of the
direction expressed above, saving small rectifications of territory required
for the good of souls.
Art. 17. The reduction of dioceses that may result from the application of
the preceding Article, shall be brought into force as the said dioceses become
vacant.
The said reduction shall not import the suppression of the titles of the
dioceses, nor their Chapters, which shall be conserved when regrouping the
dioceses in such a mode that the chief place therein shall correspond with
that of the province.
The said reductions shall leave the economic resources of the dioceses and
of the Ecclesiastical entities existing in the same unchanged, including the
assignments from the Italian State.
Art. 18. By disposition of the Ecclesiastical Authority the parishes shall
be regrouped provisionally or definitively, entrusting them to one parish
priest assisted by one or more curates uniting in one presbytery several
priests. The State shall maintain unaltered the economic treatment of the said
parishes.
Art. 19. The choice of Archbishops and Bishops belongs to the Holy See.
First before proceeding to the nomination of an Archbishop, a Diocesan
Bishop or a coadjutor with right of succession, the Holy See shall communicate
the name of the person chosen to the italian Government so as to be assured by
the same that it has no reason of a political character to offer against the
nomination.
The relative practice shall be performed with the greatest possible care
and with every reserve so that the name of the person chosen shall remain
secret.
Art. 20. Bishops before taking possession of their dioceses shall take an
oath of fidelity to the head of the State according to the following formula:
Before God and his Holy Gospels I swear and promise on becoming a Bishop
fidelity to the Italian State. I swear and promise to respect and make
respected by my clergy the King and the Government established according to
the constitutional laws of the State. I swear and promise moreover that I
shall not participate in any agreement or any counsel that can damage the
Italian State and the public order and I shall not allow to my clergy such
participation. I shall concern myself with the well-being and interests of the
Italian State and endeavour to avert any danger that can possibly menace it.
Art. 21. The provision of Ecclesiastical benefices belongs to the
Ecclesiastical Authority.
The nomination of those invested with parochial benefices shall be
communicated under reserve by the competent Ecclesiastical Authority to the
Italian Government, and cannot have effect until thirty days from the date of
the communication.
Within this period the Italian Government shall where grave reasons are
opposed to the nomination manifest them under reserve to the Ecclesiastical
Authority, and if the dissent continues shall bring the case before the Holy
See.
When Crave reasons arise which render the continuance of an Ecclesiastic in
a determined parochial benefice injurious, the Italian Government shall
communicate such reasons to the ordinary who in accord with the Government
shall take the appropriate measures within three months thereof.
In case of divergences between the ordinary and the Government, the Holy
See shall entrust the solution of the question to two Ecclesiastics chosen by
it, who in accord with two delegates of the Italian Government shall take a
definitive decision.
Art. 22. Ecclesiastics who are not Italian citizens cannot be invested with
the existing benefices in Italy. Those in charge of dioceses or parishes must
speak the Italian language.
Where necessary they shall have helpers assigned to them who, besides
Italian, understand and speak the language locally in use, for the purpose of
giving religious assistance in that language to the faithful according to the
rules of the Church.
Art. 23. The dispositions of Articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 22 do not
apply to Rome and the suburban dioceses.
But the Holy See shall proceed to a new arrangement of the said dioceses,
the assignments at present being made by the Italian State both of their
revenues and of the other Ecclesiastical Institutions shall remain unchanged.
Art. 24. The exequatur and the Royal placet are abolished, and any Cæsarean
or Royal nomination in the matter of the appointment to any Ecclesiastical
benefices or offices throughout Italy, saving the exceptions made by Art. 29,
letter g.
Art. 25. The Italian State renounces the sovereign prerogative of the Royal
patronage of benefices both major and minor.
Likewise the regalia1 over major or minor benefices and the terzo
pensionabile2 in the provinces of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies is
abolished.
1 Regalia. The right on the part of the Crown to appropriate to itself
the income of Ecclesiastical benefices during the period they remain vacant.
2 Terso pensionabile. The right of the State to apply a third part of the
income of a benefice in favour of persons designated by itself. Such rights
were in force in the provinces of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The relative burdens cease to be chargeable to the State and to the
dependent administrations.
Art. 26. The nomination to the possession of the major or manor benefices
and of the temporary representative of the vacant See or benefice has the
effect of the said Ecclesiastical provision, in which the Government
officially participates.
The administration and enjoyment of the revenues during the vacancy shall
be arranged according to the norm of Canon Law.
In the case of bad management the Italian State in accord with the
Ecclesiastical Authority shall proceed to the sequestration of the
temporalities of the benefice, devoting the net revenues in favour of the
possessor, or in his absence to the advantage of the benefice.
Art. 27. The Basilicas of the Holy House at Loreto, of S. Francis at Assisi
and of S. Antony at Padua, with the buildings and works annexed, except those
of a purely lay character, shall be ceded to the Holy See and their
administration shall belong to the same. They shall be free from every
interference by the State and from the conversion of other entities of
whatsoever nature under the management of the Holy See, even the Missionary
Colleges. In any case the Italian law regarding the acquisitions of moral
corporations remains in force.
With regard to the property now belonging to the said sanctuaries, a mixed
commission shall proceed to deal with their distribution, having regard to the
rights of third parties and to the necessary endowment of the said works of a
lay character. For the other sanctuaries in which a lay administration exists,
these shall be replaced by the management of the Ecclesiastical Authority,
saving the case of the distribution of the property according to the norm of
the preceding paragraph.
Art. 28. For the tranquillization of consciences the Holy See accords a
full condonation to all those who in consequence of the Italian laws changing
the Ecclesiastical patrimony, are found in possession of Ecclesiastical
property.
For such purpose the Holy See shall give the ordinaries the opportune
instructions.
Art. 29. The Italian State shall revise its legislation in so far as it
concerns Ecclesiastical matters, reforming and reintegrating them in order to
bring them into harmony with the direction which inspires the Treaty with the
Holy See and the present Concordat.
It remains now for the two High Contracting Parties to agree the following
:
(a) The personality of the Ecclesiastical entities already recognised by
the Italian law (the Holy See, Dioceses, Chapters, Seminaries, parishes, etc.)
shall remain unchanged. Such personality shall be recognized also in churches
open to public worship which at present do not enjoy it, composing those that
formerly belonged to Ecclesiastical entities now suppressed, with the
assignment in regard to these last of the revenue actually destined to each
one from the Fund of Public Worship. Saving what is settled in the previous
Art. 27, the council of administration wheresoever existing, and even if
wholly or in part composed of lay persons, shall not interfere in the service
of public worship, and the nomination of those composing the administration
shall be made in agreement with the Ecclesiastical Authority.
(b) The juridical personality of those religious congregations shall be
recognized, with or without votes, approved by the Holy See, which have their
principal house within the Kingdom, and are there represented juridically and
in fad by persons who are of Italian citizenship and are domiciled in Italy.
The juridical personality shall also be recognized of the Italian religious
provinces of those associations having their principal house abroad within the
limits of the State and its colonies? when the same conditions concur.
The Juridical personality of houses, when the particular rules of each
order attributes to them the right of acquisition and possession, shall
likewise be recognized.
Finally shall be recognized the houses of the Generals, and the procurators
of religious associations, including those abroad. The religious houses and
associations which at present enjoy juridical personality shall conserve the
same.
The acts relating to the transfer of the property to which the associations
now come into possession from the present owners to the association shall be
exempt from any taxation.
(c) The confraternities exclusively or principally devoted to worship and
which are not subject to ulterior transformation as regards their purpose,
depend on the Ecclesiastical Authority for what concerns their functioning and
administration.
(d) The foundation of religious worship of any kind is permitted provided
that it responds to the needs of the people, and imposes no financial burden
on the State. These dispositions apply to such as are already in existence.
(e) In the civil administration of Ecclesiastical patrimony resulting from
the aversive laws half the council of administration shall be composed of
members designated by the Ecclesiastical Authority, and likewise for the
religious funds of the new provinces.
(f) The acts computed up to the present by Ecclesiastical or religious
entities, without the observance of the civil law, shall be recognized and
regularized by the Italian State at the request of the ordinary if presented
within three years from the entry into force of this Concordat.
(g) The Italian State renounces the exemption from Ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the palatine clergy in all Italy (saving for those belonging
to the Church of the Santa Sindone of Turin di Superga, and of the Sudario of
Rome and the chapels annexed to the palaces which are occupied by the
Sovereign and the Royal princes) entering all the nominations and provisions
of benefices and offices under the norm of the preceding Articles. An
appropriate commission shall provide for the assignment to any basilica or
palatine Church of a suitable endowment according to the criteria indicated
for the property of the sanctuaries in Art. 27.
(h) The tributary facilities already established by Italian law in forms of
Ecclesiastical entities at present existing shall remain in force; the scope
of worship and religion is for all tributary effects made equal to the scope
of beneficence and education.
The extraordinary tax of 30 per cent imposed by Art. 18 of the law of
August 15, 1867, n. 2848, the quota of concourse of which see Art. 31 of the
law of July 7, 1866, n. 3036, and Article 20 of the law of August 15, 1867, n.
3848, are abolished; also the tax on the passage of interest of property
constituting the endowment of benefices and other Ecclesiastical entities
established by Art. I of the Royal Decree, December 30, 1923, n. 3270, and for
the future the institution of any special tribute charged on the property of
the Church. Neither shall there be applied to ministers of worship in the
exercise of their sacerdotal ministry any professional tax or licensing tax
instituted by Royal Decree, November 18, 1923, n. 2538, in place of the
suppressed tax of trade and resale, or any other tax of that nature.
(i) The use of the Ecclesiastical and religious habit on the part of
seculars as on the part of Ecclesiastics or religious who have been forbidden
to wear it by definitive provision of the competent Ecclesiastical Authority,
which should be officially communicated to the Italian Government, is
forbidden: and shall be punished with same sanctions and pains with which is
forbidden and punished the unlawful use of the military uniform.
Art. 30. The ordinary and extraordinary administration of property
belonging to any Ecclesiastical Institute or religious association shall be
under the direction and control of the competent authority of the Church,
every intervention on the part of the Italian State being excluded, and
without the obligation to submit the conversion of real estate.
The Italian State recognizes in Ecclesiastical Institutes and religious
associations the capacity to acquire property, saving the dispositions of the
civil law concerning the acquisition of moral corporations.
The Italian State by the new accords, unless established otherwise, shall
continue to supply the deficiencies in the income of Ecclesiastical benefices
with assignments that shall correspond to a measure not inferior to that
established by the laws actually in force, in consideration of which the
administration of the patrimony of the said benefices as far as it concerns
acts and contracts which exceed simple administration shall take place with
the intervention of the Italian State, and in the case of a vacancy the
assignment of the property shall be made in the presence of a representative
of the Government expressed by an appropriate document.
The Episcopal income of the suburban dioceses, and the patrimonies of the
chapter and parishes of Rome and the said dioceses, is not subject to the said
intervention.
For the purpose of a congruous supplement, the amount of the said incomes
and patrimony corresponding to the benefices shall result from a declaration
rendered annually under the proper responsibility of the Bishop for the
suburban dioceses and of the Cardinal Vicar for Rome.
Art. 31. The erection of new Ecclesiastical entities or religion
associations shall be made by the Ecclesiastical Authority according to the
norm of Canon Law; their recognition as regards civil effects shall be made by
the civil authority.
Art. 32. The recognitions and the authorizations foreseen in the
provisions of the present Concordat and of the Treaty shall take place through
a norm established by the civil law which shall be put into harmony with the
dispositions of the said Concordat and Treaty.
Art. 33. The disposition of the existing Catacombs in Rome and other parts
of the territory of the Kingdom are reserved to the Holy See, with the
consequent honour of keeping, maintaining and conserving them. The Holy See
can, with the observance of the law of the State and saving the eventual
rights of third parties, proceed to future excavations and the transfer of the
bodies of the saints.
Art. 34. The Italian State, wishing to restore to the institution of
matrimony, which is the foundation of the family, that dignity which is
conformable with the Catholic traditions of its people, recognizes the civil
effects of the Sacrament of matrimony regulated by Canon Law.
The publication of matrimony as above shall be effected in the parish, and
also in the communal hall.
Immediately after the celebration of matrimony, the parish priest shall
explain to the newly wedded pair the civil effects of matrimony, reading to
them the Articles in the civil code regarding the rights and duties of married
persons, and commit the act of matrimony to writing, of which within five days
he shall send an exact copy to the Commune, in order that it may be
transcribed in the registers of the civil State.
Causes concerning nullity of matrimony and dispensations from matrimony
ratified but not consummated are reserved to the competence of the
Ecclesiastical Tribunals and their departments.
The provisions and the relative sentences when they have become definitive
shall be carried to the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura, which shall control
them and see that the norm of the Canon Law relative to the competence of the
judge, the citations, the legitimate representation and the contumacy of the
parties, has been observed.
The said provisions and definitive sentences with the relative decree of
the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura shall be transmitted to the Court of
Appeal of the State competent for the territory, which shall, by an order of
chamber of Council, render effective the civil effects and order the same to
be annotated in the margin of the Act of Matrimony of the civil State.
As to causes of personal separation the Holy See agrees that these shall be
judged by the ordinary civil authority.
Art. 35. For secondary (scuola media) schools of instruction carried on by
Ecclesiastical or religious associations the examination by the State with
effective parity of conditions for candidates of the Government schools and
candidates of the said schools shall remain in force.
Art. 36. Italy, considering the teaching of Christian doctrine according to
the form received by Catholic tradition as the foundation and the crown of
public instruction, agrees that religious instruction imparted in the public
elementary schools shall have a further development in the secondary schools
according to a programme to be established by an accord between the Holy See
and the State.
Such teaching shall be given by means of masters and professors, priests
and religious approved by the Ecclesiastical Authority, and subsidiaries by
means of lay masters and professors, who for this end shall be furnished with
a certificate of fitness to be issued by the ordinary of the diocese.
The revocation of the certificate on the part of the ordinary deprives the
teachers of the capacity to teach.
For the said religious teaching there shall only be used in the public
schools the text-books approved by the Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 37. The director of the State Association of physical culture for
pre-military instruction, of the Avanguardisti and the Balilla, in order to
render possible the religious instruction of the youth entrusted to them,
shall dispose the hours in such a way as shall not impede on Sundays and days
of precept the fulfilment of their religious duties.
The same applies to the directors of public schools for gatherings of their
pupils on the said feast days.
Art. 38. The nomination of the professors of the Catholic University of the
Sacred Heart and the dependent institute of Mary Immaculate are subject to the
nihil obstat on the part of the Holy See directed to secure that nothing shall
be wanting from the moral and religious point of view.
Art. 39. The Universities, the greater and lesser Seminaries, diocesan,
inter-diocesan or regional, the academies, the colleges and other Catholic
Institutes for Ecclesiastical formation and culture shall continue to depend
solely from the Holy See without any interference on the part of the
scholastic authority of the Kingdom.
Art. 40. The doctorate in Sacred Theology bestowed by the Faculty approved
by the Holy See shall be recognized by the Italian State ; likewise shall be
recognized the diplomas which shall be given in the schools of palæography,
archives and diplomatic documents erected near the Library and the Archives in
the City of the Vatican.
Art. 41. Italy recognizes the use in the Kingdom and its colonies of the
Pontifical honours of knighthood by means of a register of briefs of the
nominations through the presentation of the brief by the person interested and
the request for its inscription therein.
Art. 42. Italy shall admit the recognition by a Royal decree of titles of
nobility conferred by the Supreme Pontiff, even after 1870, and of those that
shall be conferred in the future.
It shall also be established that the said recognition in Italy shall not
be subject to taxation.
Art. 43. The Italian State recognizes the organizations dependent from the
Italian Catholic action in so far as the Holy See has disposed that they carry
out their activity outside any political party and under the immediate
dependence of the Hierarchy of the Church for the diffusion and exercise of
Catholic principles.
The Holy See takes the occasion of the stipulation of the present Concordat
to renew to all Ecclesiastics and religious of Italy the prohibition of
belonging to and fighting for any political party whatsoever.
Art. 44. If any difficulty shall arise in the future concerning the
interpretation of the present Concordat, the Holy See and Italy shall proceed
by a common examination to a friendly solution.
Art. 45. The present Concordat shall come into force by exchange of the
ratifications at the same time as the Treaty between the two High Parties for
the elimination of ' the Roman Question. '
With the entry into force of the present Concordat, the Concordat with the
former Italian States shall cease to be operative. The Austrian law, the laws
and decrees of the Italian State actually in force, in so far as they are
opposed to the depositions of the present Concordat, shall be abrogated by the
entry into force of the same.
To prepare for the execution of the present Concordat, a commission shall
be nominated immediately after the signing thereof, comprised of persons to be
designated by the two High Parties.
Rome, eleventh February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.
PIETRO CARD. GASPARRI.
BENITO MUSSOLINI.
At the conclusion of the signing, the following official communiqué was
released:
The Holy See considers that with the Agreements signed today it possesses
the guarantees necessary to provide due liberty and independence to the
spiritual government of the dioceses of Rome and of the Catholic Church in
Italy and the whole world. It declares the Roman question definitely and
irrevocably settled, and therefore eliminated, and recognizes the Kingdom of
Italy under the dynasty of the House of Savoy, with Rome as the capital of the
Italian State. Italy, on its side, recognizes the State of the Vatican City
under the sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiff.
The Law of Guarantees and any other Law or Act contrary to the present
Treaty is abrogated.
