Pope Benedict XVI and the Palestinians

First, Pope Benedict goes out of his way to exonerate the Jewish race from the blood-guilt of killing Jesus Christ.

Now, he has met with PLO President Mahmoud Abbas cementing Vatican support for the foundation of an independent Palestinian State.

Is this statescraft, dithering, or a crass attempt to build up the ranks of the declining church enrollment?

Sometimes the cause of social justice will lead to great injustice. Palestine belongs to the Jews, has for thousands of years, and no one will change that. Not statesman, not politicians, not corporations, not even the Catholic Church.

Still, the Vatican's (seemingly) more legitimate interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict relates to two issues:

1) The displaced Catholic-Christian Arabs in the West Bank. In no wise did they deserve to be moved off of their land, yet no one can blame the Jews for the dispute which has lead to the Christians' unwarranted removal. To this day, Christian pilgrims from around the world can still visit the region to visit holy sites and practice their faith in the cradle of the faith.

2) The integrity of Christian Holy Sites in the West Bank. As long as the Jewish State remains in charge of the West Bank, Christians from around the world, including the Vatican, have nothing to fear regarding the future integrity of the Christian holy sites in the region, including Bethlehem and Nazareth. Besides, the chief site, Jerusalem, now rests completely within Israeli borders, where its political and religious integrity remains intact.

Christians are not in jeopardy in the West Bank--certainly not in the rest of the state Israel, the only nation in the Middle East practicing religious tolerance. If Pope Benedict wants to promote peace in the Middle East, he should not legitimize the cause of the Palestinians by meeting with their terrorist-allied leader. The PLO, Hamas, Fatah, and other Radical Muslims have fostered terrorism, indoctrinated their youth with anti-Semitism, and have frustrated every effort for peace. Does the head of the Catholic Church want to be allied with such wicked company?

It is truly shameful to see Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Catholic Church, mire the message of the gospel on the fraught politics of Palestinian hate. Spirituality and the Gospel pay a rueful price when religious authorities venture into sordid politics.