Palestine’s Vatican Embassy, launched last month, will benefit both Palestine and the Holy See, the Holy See’s diplomatic representative to Jerusalem says.
And although there is no official State of Palestine, Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See, said the new embassy is “a significant achievement for the Palestinian people.”
The Holy See’s diplomatic representative (known as the apostolic delegation) said the new embassy is “a natural consequence” of the Global Agreement the Vatican signed in 2015.
In this, the Vatican acknowledged the “State of Palestine” as an official entity.
“It is an effective juridical instrument that assures legal recognition and guarantees to the Catholic Church, its institutions and its communities in Palestine.”
The new embassy offers opportunities for formalising communications and providing a direct communication channel between Palestine and the Holy See.
The apostolic delegation said mutual cooperation will be therefore be able to be “activated and developed.”
After a meeting with Pope Francis in January, Palestine’s President Abbas said Palestinians are “very grateful about the role that the Holy See has played for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land, and for having opened an embassy of Palestine in the Vatican for the first time.”
Source
