Happy Ending to a Snub : Full diplomatic ties will be established between Israel and the Vatican

Roman Catholicism is a religion whose leader, uniquely, is also a chief of state. Israel is a state whose people, uniquely, have been defined by their religion. True, the Pope would still be the Pope if he were only the bishop of Rome and not also the head of the Vatican state. True, a Jew can be an Israeli without ever setting foot in a synagogue. But as now constituted, Catholicism is a religion with a unique political entanglement and Israel is a state with a unique religious entanglement. No wonder relations between the two have been snarled.

Now there has been a development that promises to make those relations less tangled. On Dec. 29 and 30, by an agreement initialed separately in Rome and in Jerusalem, full diplomatic ties will be established for the first time between Israel and the Vatican. An exchange of ambassadors is expected before long.

Virtually alone, the Vatican state, though it recognizes Israel diplomatically, has stopped short of an exchange of ambassadors. The consequences of this long-running diplomatic snub have been negative both for Israeli relations with Catholic institutions in Israel, and, internationally, for relations among Jews and Catholics.

The United States, unique in the role it has played as guarantor of Israeli security and mediator between the Israelis and the Palestinians, is also unique in the size and world importance of its Jewish and Catholic communities. It is scarcely to be wondered at that Cardinal John O’Connor of New York, a city with a huge Catholic population and virtually the capital of Jewish America, should have played a unique role in the normalization of the Vatican’s relations with Israel.

The air should now be notably cleared for the addressing of a variety of legitimate interfaith and interstate issues. The agreement includes a Catholic pledge to join Israel in fighting anti-Semitism worldwide; though to some extent it recapitulates earlier pledges, it may arrive with a special credibility.

Though Rome thinks, proverbially, in centuries, this agreement could easily have come much earlier. That said, those who have now brought it about about deserve the praise they will receive from Jews and Catholics alike.