The Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel or "Fundamental Agreement" is a treaty or concordat between the Holy See and the State of Israel, signed on 30 December 1993. The Agreement deals with the property rights and tax exemptions of the Roman Catholic Church within Israeli territory. It did not resolve all issues, and the parties continue to meet in an attempt to resolve the issues outstanding.
The Fundamental Agreement is supplemented by an Additional Protocol signed on the same date, that details provisions related to the establishment of normal diplomatic ties between the Holy See and Israel.
The Agreement and its Additional Protocol were ratified by the State of Israel on 20 February 1994, and on the same date the Holy See was notified of such ratification. The Holy See, for its part, ratified the Agreement and its Protocol on 7 March 1994, and the State of Israel was notified of such ratification on 10 March 1994. Also on that date, upon the completion of the exchange of diplomatic notices regarding the ratification of the treaty, it entered into force in international law. [1] However, the Israeli Knesset has not passed legislation to ratify the treaty in Israel's domestic law.
As a result of the Agreement, diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel were established in 1994, with the Vatican appointing an apostolic nuncio to Israel and Israel appointing an ambassador to the Vatican. Zion Evrony was the Israeli ambassador to the Vatican from 30 September 2012 [2] to 2016. [3] He was followed by Oren David.
Diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel were established on 19 January 1994. A number of issues between the two states are still outstanding and the subject of negotiation.
On 10 November 1997, the Vatican and Israel entered into a “Legal Personality Agreement” [4] (also referred to as the "Agreement on the Legal Personality of the Church") pursuant to Article 3 (3) of the Fundamental Agreement which provides:
Under the provision, Israel agreed ”to assure full effect in Israeli law to the legal personality of the Catholic Church” and all Catholic institutions operating in Israel. The agreement recognises the corporate status in law, instead of the previous de facto status, on the Catholic entities formed under Catholic canon law, [5] without having to incorporate under Israeli law.
The entities covered by the Agreement are:
The Agreement has still not been ratified by the Knesset.
Taxes by Israel on church properties and income in Israel remains an issue for the Vatican.
The change in rules by Israel relating to the previously easy grant of visas to Church personnel is an issue for the Vatican. [6]
The status of church properties and communities under Israeli domestic law remains unresolved. When the region was part of the Ottoman Empire and, later, under the British Mandatory Administration, church properties enjoyed a special legal and tax status.[ clarification needed ] Their status became unclear with the creation of the state of Israel. The church property remains an issue for the Vatican, as the Catholic Church has extensive property holdings in Israel.
In a paper on the first five years of the accord, Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs, stated that normalizing the legal standing of church personnel and institutions is a complex matter. Rosen wrote:
The Holy See would have liked to have been considered as an extra territorial entity, enjoying the same privileges granted to foreign delegations and their properties. There was no way that Israel was going to grant such status, especially not for a community overwhelmingly made up of Israeli citizens. Moreover, aside from the principle, to have done so for the Catholic community without doing so for other Christian denominations would have posed substantial difficulties for Israel. [7]
The Israel-Vatican Working Commission was convened in Jerusalem on 30 April 2009 to try to resolve economic issues with the then forthcoming visit of Benedict XVI to the Middle East in mind. The Commission could not reach an agreement and met again in the Vatican on 10 December 2009. [8]
A further meeting was held on 20 May 2010; [9] reportedly, the possibility of a comprehensive Israeli-Vatican agreement was discussed. [10] [11] After another meeting, held on 21 September 2010, more progress was reported.
The next meeting took place on 6 December 2010, [12] and yet another on 14 June 2011. [13] A further meeting was scheduled for 1 December 2011 [14] but was convened, in Israel, only on 26 January 2012. [15] Some progress was reported at a meeting held on 12 June 2012. [16] The Working Commission met on 29 January 2013, but no specific progress was reported. [17] Another meeting was held on 5 June 2013, but no progress was reported. [18] Another meeting was held on 11 February 2014 in Jerusalem, and the next meeting was scheduled for June 2014. [19] However, the scheduled meeting of the commission was not held, probably owing to tensions over the peace process. A further meeting took place in Jerusalem on 18 January 2017 [20] and another meeting took place in the Vatican on 13 June 2017. [21] The negotiations had not concluded as at 14 June 2019. [22]
The Holy See, also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome, which has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Catholic Church and sovereignty over the city-state known as Vatican City.
The politics of Vatican City take place in a framework of a theocratic absolute elective monarchy, in which the Pope, religiously speaking, the leader of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome, exercises ex officio supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the Vatican City, a rare case of non-hereditary monarchy.
The Lateran Treaty was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman Question. The treaty and associated pacts were named after the Lateran Palace where they were signed on 11 February 1929, and the Italian parliament ratified them on 7 June 1929. The treaty recognized Vatican City as an independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See. The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States. In 1948, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the Constitution of Italy as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The treaty was significantly revised in 1984, ending the status of Catholicism as the sole state religion.
A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both, i.e. the recognition and privileges of the Catholic Church in a particular country and with secular matters that impact on church interests.
The Catholic Church in Israel is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Holy See in Rome. The Catholic Church in Israel is divided into three main jurisdictions: the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, and the Salesian Mission. Each of these jurisdictions has its own responsibilities and areas of operation.
Dominique François Joseph Mamberti is the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in the Roman Curia. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015.
Pietro ParolinOMRI is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since February 2014, he has served as the Vatican's Secretary of State since October 2013 and a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers since July 2014. Before that, he worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for thirty years, where his assignments included terms in Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela, as well as more than six years as Undersecretary of State for Relations with States.
The Holy See has long been recognised as a subject of international law and as an active participant in international relations. One observer has stated that its interaction with the world has, in the period since World War II, been at its highest level ever. It is distinct from the city-state of the Vatican City, over which the Holy See has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction".
Holy See–Israel relations are the diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel, as well as a concordat defining the status and fiscal and property rights of the Catholic Church and related entities within Israel. Formal diplomatic relations between the two states were established after the adoption of the Fundamental Agreement by the two States on 30 December 1993. A Vatican Nunciature in Israel and an Israeli embassy in Rome were simultaneously opened on 19 January 1994. From the Vatican's point of view, the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states is part of the Christian–Jewish reconciliation; and from the Israeli point of view, the normalization of diplomatic relations. Prior to the establishment of diplomatic relations, the interests of the Catholic Church in Israel were looked after by the Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custodian of the Holy Land, all of which continue to function.
The Holy See and the State of Palestine established formal diplomatic relations in 2015, through the mutual signing of the Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine. In 2017, a Palestinian embassy to the Holy See was opened.
Holy See–Serbia relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and Serbia. Both countries established diplomatic relations in March 1919. The Holy See has an embassy in Belgrade. Serbia has an embassy to the Holy See in Rome.
Holy See–Vietnam relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and Vietnam. Diplomatic relations have never been established between the two entities, but Vietnam is the only communist state in Asia to have unofficial and bilateral relations with the Vatican.
Antonio Franco is a Vatican diplomat.
The legal status of the Holy See, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, both in state practice and according to the writing of modern legal scholars, is that of a full subject of public international law, with rights and duties analogous to those of states.
Georgia – Holy See relations are bilateral relations between Georgia and the Holy See. The diplomatic relations between the two were established on May 5, 1992. The Georgian Embassy to the Holy See is located in 25 Via Toscana, Rome. The Apostolic Nunciature is located in 40 Zghenti Street, Tbilisi.
Antoine Camilleri is a Maltese prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Under-Secretary for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, until he was named an archbishop and given the title of apostolic nuncio in 2019. He joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1999.
Democratic Republic of the Congo–Holy See relations refers to the current relationship between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Holy See. The two states have seen an increase in their cooperation in recent years, and due to the large number of Roman Catholics in the DRC, President Joseph Kabila has made an effort to maintain good relations with the Vatican.
Holy See–Myanmar relations refers to bilateral relations between the Holy See, which is sovereign over the Vatican City, and Myanmar, also known as Burma. As of August 2017, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam is the first Apostolic Nuncio to Myanmar, while San Lwin is Myanmar's ambassador to the Holy See.
The Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine is an agreement signed on 26 June 2015 between the Holy See and the Palestine Authority, representing the State of Palestine, through which the Holy See recognized the State of Palestine as an independent state and established diplomatic relations with it.
The Government of Croatia and the Holy See have signed four bilateral agreements and a protocol. Although the agreements proved controversial owing to great one-time and continuous financial and other burdens the agreements put on the Croatian state, no government of Croatia ever attempted to amend them. From the perspective of international law, these agreements may be seen as unjust to Croatia because of putting obligations chiefly on the Croatian state, but not on the Holy See.