Catholic view of Jerusalem.

New York - On June 9 Archbishop Renato Martino, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, spoke on the status of Jerusalem at the New York headquarters of the Path to Peace foundation. He began by summarizing the "well-known and long-standing position of the Holy See with regard to Jerusalem." Jerusalem "for us, of course, along with the rest of the Holy Land, is that special link between Heaven and earth, that place where God walked and ultimately died among men. And of course we recognize that others revere Jerusalem as the city of David and the prophets and the city known to Muhammad. . . . It is a spiritual treasure for all of humanity, and it is a city of two peoples, Arabs and Jews, and of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam."

Archbishop Martino pointed out that "in recent years it has been increasingly difficult to break through the political and media-imposed stranglehold on the question of Jerusalem." He then recounted Jerusalem's recent history, recalling in particular the UN's General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 "calling for Jerusalem to be considered a corpus separatum under the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations," a resolution which Israel accepted.

He pointed out that, in addressing the gridlock which has resulted from the 1967 Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, "the Holy See has therefore advocated the granting to Jerusalem of an `internationally guaranteed special statute."' That is the phrase used by Pope John Paul II in his 1984 apostolic letter Redemptionis Anno."

This statute "asks that regardless of how the problem of sovereignty is resolved and who is called to exercise it, there should be a supranational and international entity endowed with means adequate to ensure `the preservation of the special characteristics of the city, its holy places, the freedom to visit them, its religious and ethnic communities, a guarantee of their essential liberties, and its city plan'. "

He also spoke of the problems sparked by Israel's recent authorization of "a project for the construction of settlements in occupied territory in East Jerusalem," for which "there was widespread international condemnation." This issue, Archbishop Martino reminded those present, was brought before th U.N. Security Council on March 7th and March 21st of this year, but without resolution, "because the sole country on the Security Council which opposed the resolution was the United States."

An emergency session of the General Assembly, "organized only nine other times in the history of the United Nations," was held on April 24-25th. The Holy See delegation was contacted and asked for suggestions for a resolution, Archbishop Martino said.

The approved texts of the eventual resolution, he underlined, contained "those points championed by the Holy See....The General Assembly has here called for internationally guaranteed provisions'--the equivalent of the `internationally guaranteed special status' called for by Pope John Paul II. This is particularly noteworthy because in this case, the Arab delegations all voted for this resolution and therefore for this provision. . . .

"The holy places within Jerusalem," concluded Archbishop Martino, "are not merely museum relics to be opened and closed by the dominant political authority, no matter who that might be at the given moment. They are living shrines precious to the hearts and faith of believers."