AP: Vatican plays down differences before pope's Israel trip

The Vatican’s representative to the Holy Land on Monday played down the controversies that could mar a visit next week by Pope Benedict XVI: the conduct of a wartime predecessor, a Roman Catholic prayer for converting the Jews and the church’s perceived lenience toward a Holocaust-denying bishop.

A papal visit to the Holy Land is not the time to “quarrel for this or that,” said Monsignor Antonio Franco, the Apostolic Nuncio to Israel.

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Posted in * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, Inter-Faith Relations, Israel, Judaism, Middle East, Other Churches, Other Faiths, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic