Meeting between Israel and Holy See postponed

Vatican City, Mar 5, 2010 / 12:33 pm

The Plenary meeting planned between the Holy See and the State of Israel for May has been moved back. Talks have not been suspended, and the two sides have agreed to convene the meeting at a later date to "maximize" their time together.

The date for the Permanent Bilateral Working Commission's Plenary meeting scheduled for May 27 has been changed to June 15.

A joint communique was issued by the co-chairmen of the commission related the mutual agreement of the parties to "changes to the previously announced schedule of meetings."

The chairmen also announced their intention to meet before the plenary meeting for "Working-Level" meetings that have not yet been scheduled. Two joint working meetings of the commission have already taken place in 2010.

The changes are not due to any problems in the negotiations, which have had their complications, but is only due to the need to address "logistical needs" and "maximize" their time together, AsiaNews learned from a source "close to the negotiations."

The Plenary meeting on June 15 will take place in the Vatican.

Israel and the Holy See are still at the negotiating table to decide the legal and economic status of Catholic Church sites and personnel in the Holy Land, which would finalize the implementation of an accord signed in 1993.