The Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land have condemned the U.S. government plan to dispossess the Palestinian people of even more of their land, dismissing it as a unilateral plan endorsing Israel’s political agenda.
“It does not give dignity and rights to the Palestinians. It is to be considered a unilateral initiative, since it endorses almost all the demands of one side, the Israeli one, and its political agenda” whilst at the same time denying “the just demands of the Palestinian people for their homeland, their rights and dignified life.”
The Christian Church has always opposed the Zionist agenda. Theodor Herzl, who is known as ‘the father of Zionism’, approached Pope Saint Pius X in 1904 to try and gain his support for the creation of a Zionist State in Palestine:
“How can we, without abandoning our highest principles, agree to their being given possession of the Holy Land” – Cardinal Merry del Val (January 1904)
“How can we deliver up the country of our Redeemer to a people of a different faith? “ – Cardinal Merry del Val (1st April 1904)
“We cannot give approval to the movement. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem, but we could never sanction it. The soil of Jerusalem, if it was not always sacred, has been sanctioned by the life of Jesus Christ. As the head of the Church, I cannot tell you anything different.” – Pope St. Pius X (January 1904)
“The Holy See has never approved the project of making Palestine a home for the Jews,” – Cardinal Luigi Maglione, Pope Pius XII‟s Secretary of State (3rd March 1943)