Pope Francis forced to cancel Israel visit

Foreign Ministry source confirms trip planned for May scrapped due to ongoing strike by Israeli diplomats

By Raphael Ahren and Gavriel Fiske 

 Pope Francis dines with Argentine Jewish leaders. (photo credit: World Jewish Congress via JTA)

(The Times of Israel) Pope Francis has been forced to cancel his planned visit to Israel, which was to take place over May 24-26, due to the ongoing labor dispute at the Foreign Ministry.

A source at the ministry confirmed to The Times of Israel on Thursday that the pontiff’s trip was cancelled because Foreign Ministry workers are currently on strike and are unable to make the necessary arrangements for the high-profile visit.

The cancellation is likely to cause “large, measurable economic damage, with all the lost tourist revenue that would have accompanied the visit,” the source said.

In early January, Francis announced that he would be visiting Bethlehem and Jerusalem in May. He was also to travel to Amman. The Foreign Ministry said that, according to the Vatican, the pope’s visit won’t be able to be rescheduled, only cancelled.

On Wednesday, it was announced that British Prime Minister David Cameron was also forced to reschedule his planned visit to Israel due to the labor dispute. Cameron was due to address the Knesset on March 12.

“I just don’t see how it’ll be possible to go ahead with the visit without the cooperation of the Foreign Ministry,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

Francis’s trip was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Christian spiritual leader Ecumenical Patriarch Atengora, in Jerusalem.

The trip would have been the new pope’s second visit to the Holy Land. He arrived in Israel in 1973, just as the Yom Kippur War broke out. As The Times of Israel revealed in April, the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio spent six days confined by the conflict to his Jerusalem hotel, where he studied the Letters of Saint Paul to the Corinthians.

President Shimon Peres first invited Francis to Israel immediately after his election as pope, calling on him to visit as a spiritual — not a political — leader. “The sooner you visit, the better; in these days, a new opportunity is being created for peace, and your arrival could contribute significantly to increasing the trust and belief in peace,” Peres told the pope at the time.

Both of the pontiff’s immediate predecessors visited Israel — Benedict XVI in 2009 and John Paul II in 2000.

The Israeli diplomats’ strike also threatens the planned visit of Peres to China, which has not been officially confirmed, but is planned for April. Israel’s embassy in China said this week that it was halting work on the planned visit by Peres to Beijing, as well as many other diplomatic projects, as part of labor sanctions initiated by workers who are demanding better pay from the Finance Ministry.

The Workers Union, which is fighting for higher salaries and better working conditions for diplomats serving abroad, published a list of more than two dozen measures that took effect as of Tuesday. For instance, Foreign Ministry officials will no longer cooperate in organizing visits of foreign presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other officials. Likewise, the diplomats will henceforth refuse to assist Israeli officials currently abroad or planning overseas trips. No diplomatic passports will be issued and “no assistance whatsoever” will be granted to Israeli officials abroad. In addition, all consular services to Israeli citizens are suspended; exceptions will only be made in cases where lives are in danger, or bodies need to be returned to Israel for burials.

Furthermore, the ministry is temporarily suspending any cooperation with government institutions, specifically the Finance Ministry but also the Shin Bet and Mossad intelligence services and the IDF. No diplomatic cables are being sent by diplomats and the cadets course and distribution of pro-Israel public diplomacy materials has been put on hold. Diplomats have been instructed to cease any contact with the United Nations, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, and other international organizations, including peacekeeping missions on Israel’s borders, such as UNIFIL and UNDOF.

Last summer, the Workers Union initiated similar labor sanctions, which were suspended at the end of July when the diplomats and the Finance Ministry agreed to approach a mediator. But the talks broke down earlier this week with no result.

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• Pope Francis forced to cancel Israel visit

I Saw Three Ships - Sting

3 Public Papal Masses Bringing Eager Expectation

Common Hope Is Peace for Troubled Homeland

By Chiara Santomiero

JERUSALEM, MAY 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- "We are awaiting the Pope like children await their father," says Eli Hajjar, thus summarizing the Christians' sense of expectation at Benedict XVI's visit to the Holy Land.

The Holy Father arrived today in Israel, after spending a busy three days in Jordan. He does not return to Rome until Friday, scheduled to give 29 addresses during his weeklong pilgrimage.

Hajjar, a 21-year-old student at Bethlehem University, is part of a parish group that gives catechism classes to kids and does social activities for the elderly.

Many of the members of his group are now involved in preparing for the papal trip, particularly the Mass the Pontiff will celebrate Tuesday in Gethsemane.

"We are decorating the streets the Pope will pass by," Hajjar said. "Some are participating in the choir that will sing during the liturgy. [...] All of us are praying that the Pope has a tranquil trip."

"Today the Christians, and especially the Catholics," he continued, "live the great hope that the Pope will bring peace again to our lives. Also Jews and Muslims, for their part, hope to better know this great man who is the Successor of Peter."

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is also awaiting the Pope with hope. Vicenzo Bellomo an Italian layman from the Fidei Donum movement, has been in the Middle East for three years, working for the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land in the region of Bethlehem.

"The visit to Bethlehem," he explained, "is a visit to a closed-in surrounded territory. From here, one can only leave with permission. It's a bit like visiting the imprisoned, though it is a very special site."

The Pontiff will celebrate Mass there on Wednesday.

Bellomo said there is a "very beautiful hope, with great enthusiasm and great confidence in this Pope."

"Words of truth are hoped from him, about Gaza and about the situation of the Christians here," he added.

Nazareth

The last large Mass on Benedict XVI's schedule will take place in Nazareth on Thursday, his last full day in the Holy Land.

For that celebration, too, the climate of expectation is notable. Discalced Carmelite Father Renato Rosso is organizing the buses for the faithful of the St. Joseph parish, the only Latin-rite parish in Haifa, including a group of about 100 Catholic Action youth.

"For the majority of them this is the first occasion not only to meet the Pope, but also to come into contact with Christians from diverse parts of the world," he said.

And again, peace is the principal hope for these Christians.

"Also on the part of Jews and Muslims," Father Rosso reflected, "this trip is seen as a sign to reaffirm the will for peace and to encounter a solution for the great problems of the Palestinian community."

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Pilgrim George Bush Pauses to Pray

ROME, JAN. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- U.S. President George Bush made time for a stop at traditional Christian pilgrimage sites today during his peace-seeking tour in the Middle East.

Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, custos of the Holy Land, accompanied the world leader during his stop in Capernaum. Bush also visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Mount of the Beatitudes.

Father Pizzaballa told the Italian bishops' SIR news agency: "He has come as a simple man. He asked to be alone for a moment. He read the passages from the Gospel about Capernaum and the beatitudes, pausing afterward in prayer.

"He might be the most powerful man in the world, but he came as a pilgrim, in a simple way, to take a break for prayer and personal retreat."

The Franciscan said he spoke briefly with the president, who mentioned Benedict XVI's concern for the Holy Land, all of the Middle East and the Christians who live there. "But the problem, he told me, has to be resolved in a wider sphere," Father Pizzaballa said.

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Rival monks clash at Bethlehem

Bethlehem, Dec. 27, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Rival groups of Orthodox clerics clashed inside the basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem on December 27, forcing Palestinian police to restore order.

Priests of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches came to blows during a dispute over the boundaries of their respective jurisdictions within the basilica, located on the site of Christ's birth. The confrontation arose as the two groups were cleaning the church in preparation for the Orthodox observance of the Nativity in January.

Administration of the Nativity basilica is shared by Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian Apostolic clerics. The relationships among the different groups have frequently been contentious, and there have been frequent disputes over jurisdiction in spite of a highly detailed agreement.

The Franciscan monks who represent the Catholic Church at the basilica were not involved in the December 27 melee. The Orthodox and Armenian clerics were cleaning the building after thousands of Catholics had joined in their own Christmas celebration there.

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