Pope Talks With Hussein, Defends Palestinian Rights

Pope John Paul II met Jordan’s King Hussein today, and the Vatican strongly defended Palestinian rights while underlining its disapproval of Jerusalem’s status as the capital of Israel.

In a statement that church sources said is likely to irritate Israel, the Vatican said the Palestinian problem is an issue of international justice no less important than the existence and security of the Jewish state.

Hussein, who is on a European tour to drum up support for an international peace conference, discussed the Middle East and unrest in the West Bank and Gaza with the Pope for 30 minutes in the pontiff’s private study.

The Vatican statement afterward indicated that the Pope supported Hussein’s efforts to arrange the conference.

Reporters who witnessed the start and end of the meeting said it was very cordial. The Pope, smiling broadly, greeted Hussein, with, “It is a great honor,” and before the king left the study, said, “God bless Jordan, your family, your people.”

Hussein’s American-born wife, Queen Noor, did not attend.

“The Holy See considers the problem of the Palestinian people a question of international justice, no less important than that of the existence and security of Israel and of all the states in the region,” a Vatican statement said.

The statement also went to the heart of the other key issue blocking diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican--the status of Jerusalem, which Israel in 1980 unilaterally declared its “united and eternal capital.”

The statement said the Holy See has stressed “the sacred character of the city, considering it a spiritual patrimony which belongs to the three monotheistic religions.”

In unusually frank language the statement said the Vatican’s reservations “concerning the ‘status’ currently attributed to the Holy City” are well-known.

A senior Vatican official said this was a reference to Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and the declaration of the city as its capital.

The statement referred to past occasions when the Pope had called for a Palestinian homeland, secure borders for Israel and special status for Jerusalem as a city sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.