Holy See to Israel: history cannot be mystified over John Paul II
"Pitiful" the "forgetfulness" of so many statements against terrorism and anti-Semitism by Pope Wojtyla.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) History cannot be modified: this is the message of a "note" with which the Vatican recalls some of the very many statements made by John Paul II against anti-Semitism and terrorist violence.
"Recent statements by Israel," the Vatican note says, "have accused the Holy See and Pope John Paul II in particular, of not having expounded its view on terrorism, which has so often hit the people of the Israeli state.
"Readily available documents show that such statements are unfounded. In actual fact, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II expressed many times and in various occasions, his views, both in reference to the state of Israel and its rights and in reference to obligations vis-à-vis the Palestinian people, in the clear awareness that violence and terrorism do not bring peace."
The note recalls some of the Pope's statements, "condemning violence against civilians and in favour of the right of the state of Israel to live in security and in peace. For example, he had already expressed himself in this sense in his speeches to the Diplomatic Corps on January 12, 1979 and on January 16, 1982. At the Sunday Angelus prayer of April 4, 1982, he expressed his bitterness for the 'new, painful episodes [which] have occurred in the West Bank, which have left people dead and wounded, while anxiety and insecurity among the population has increased.' At his general audience on September 15, 1982, he asked that both sides renounce to 'forms of armed combat, some of which have in the past been particularly ruthless and inhumane.'"
The Vatican then recalls that "in the Apostolic Letter Redemptionis anno of April 20, 1984, he wrote, for the Jewish people living in Israel, that 'we must invoke the desired security and rightful tranquility that is the prerogative of every nation and condition of life and progress for every society.' These words were repeated by John Paul II during his meeting with the Jewish community in Miami on September 11, 1987, and with the Jewish Community in Vienna on June 24, 1988, where he added that 'remembering the Shoah also means opposing any incitement to violence, and to protect and promote any tender seedling of freedom and peace with patience and perseverance.'"
The many statements recalled in the note include the one made on October 10, 1990, when he spoke out against violence in Jerusalem, in the face of which "no one can possibly remain indifferent and refrain from condemning." With determined words, John Paul II said on January 12, 1991, that "it must be recognized that certain Palestinian groups have chosen, to make themselves heard, unacceptable and reprehensible methods," and that it is necessary to guarantee "to the state of Israel the rightful conditions for its security."
He reiterated such a position on January 15, 1994, when he expressed the hope that dialogue would prevail over extremisms and, the following year, on January 9, 1995, when he noted how, in the Holy Land, "peace cannot be written with letters of blood, but with intelligence and with the heart." A few days later, on January 22 of the same year, John Paul II expressed grief and steadfast condemnation for the serious act of terrorism committed at Netanya, and the hope that everyone would come to see the evil and uselessness of violence. Distressed by the massacre of July 30, 1997, at the Jerusalem market, the Pope had the Press Office distribute a strongly-worded note, in which he affirmed that "the Holy See deplores such blind violence that sows death indiscriminately. Peace cannot be built with such acts. The Holy Father has recalled numerous times that violence only spawns further violence."
"Furthermore, before millions of people, in his Urbi et Orbi messages, in a number of speeches to the Roman Curia, in his catechesis, in meetings with Jewish delegations, Pope John Paul II deplored, in the firmest manner, terrorism against the inhabitants of the Holy Land. Even in recalling the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, the Supreme Pontiff repeatedly censured with unequivocal words the unacceptability of violent methods which, through terrorist acts committed against the Israeli civilian population, have prevented peace initiatives set into place, throughout the past quarter of a century, by wise political forces, both Israeli and Palestinian."
"Pitiful surprise is aroused," as the Vatican puts it, "by the fact that the voice of Pope John Paul II can have passed unnoticed, even though it was raised so many times with force and passion in the dramatic situation in the Holy Land, to condemn every terrorist act and to invoke sentiments of humanity and peace. Affirmations that run counter to the historical truth can only benefit those who intend to stir up animosity and conflict, and certainly do not serve to improve the situation."
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