Vatican ‘Grieved’ by Furor Over Waldheim State Visit

The Vatican said Saturday that it is “surprised and profoundly grieved” that Austrian President Kurt Waldheim’s state visit this week to Pope John Paul II has raised doubts about “the respect of the Pope and the Holy See for the Jewish people.”

The Vatican press office issued the formal statement in response to protests by Jewish organizations that followed Wednesday’s announcement that Waldheim will meet the pontiff during a state visit Thursday to the Vatican.

The American Jewish Congress said Saturday the visit will only help Waldheim “sanitize his Nazi past” and called it “sad and tragic that Pope John Paul II has chosen to accommodate Waldheim.”

In New York on Friday, leaders of major Jewish organizations called on the Vatican to arrange an “early meeting” with the Pope to discuss his “motivation” for agreeing to receive the Austrian president, accused of complicity in war crimes by Jewish leaders. Waldheim has denied any wrongdoing.

No meeting has been arranged, but the Vatican statement did offer an explanation of the Pope’s motives. It stressed that Waldheim will be received as the head of state of a predominantly Roman Catholic country and not as an individual who had served in the German army during World War II.

In Vienna, the Austrian Catholic news service Kathpress reported on Saturday, three days after the announcement of Waldheim’s Vatican trip, that the pontiff will visit Austria from June 24-27, 1988.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

In Amman, Jordan, newspapers Saturday quoted Waldheim as saying he hopes to help settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Waldheim is due to visit Jordan on July 1. Jordanian newspapers quoted him as telling their reporters in Vienna that he has “not the slightest doubt” he could be useful in Middle East peace efforts.

Waldheim was quoted as saying he couldn’t exclude the possibility that the allegations against him arose because pro-Israeli factions considered him overly friendly toward Arab views while he served as U.N. secretary general from 1972 to 1982.

The Vatican trip will be Waldheim’s first state visit since he was elected president of Austria on June 8, 1986, despite the outcry against his World War II activities.

Waldheim was an intelligence officer during World War II and has been accused of complicity in war crimes in the Balkan countries. Washington has barred Waldheim’s entry into the United States because of his war record.

The Vatican statement said: “The Vatican is surprised and profoundly grieved that the announcement of President Waldheim’s visit to the Holy Father could lead some people, conspicuously and clamorously, to pose questions and doubts about the consideration and respect of the Pope and the Holy See for the Jewish people, and particularly about their position toward the inhuman persecution that it suffered.”

Pope’s Speeches Cited

It cited the Pope’s speeches during his recent visits to West Germany and Poland in which he spoke out strongly against the Holocaust.

The statement said the Pope’s agreement to meet Waldheim stemmed from “the consideration and respect which the Holy See is obliged to have toward other peoples and nations.”

“In the present case, this nation is Austria, an ancient and noble Catholic country, linked by centuries and cordial relations with the Holy See,” the statement said.

The statement also recalled Waldheim’s service in the United Nations. In that office, Waldheim “carried out missions of great responsibility for peace and international cooperation,” the Vatican statement said.

“The Austrian president had officially expressed a desire to make a state visit to the Holy Father, as head of the (Austrian) federal republic,” it said. “In accepting the request, the Holy See intended to put into effect an obligation that concerns its relations with that country.”