Arab Christians Split on Opposition to Vatican Declaration on Jews

Nine heads of Roman Catholic churches in Jordan issued a statement of regret over the campaign in that country against the Ecumenical Council vote on the declaration on Catholic-Jewish relations, it was reported today from Amman. One element of the campaign was a decision last week by the Jordanian Government barring all prelates who voted for the declaration from visiting the Christian holy places in Jordan.

In an article which appeared in all Jordanian newspapers yesterday, the Rev. Aqel of the Evangelical Episcopal Church in Amman, called on Jordanian Catholics to boycott services held in churches belonging to various monasteries and to say their prayers at home in Arabic. He also urged them to cease cooperation with those monasteries and ultimately with Rome “in order to force the Vatican to cancel its decision absolving Jews.”

Christian religious groups in Jordan, meanwhile, have delegated Msgr. George Bateh of the Jerusalem Latin Patriarchate to inform Pope Paul of the general reaction to the Vatican declaration on Jews. A meeting of Jordanian Christian notables sent a cable to the Pope asking that the declaration be dropped from the agenda of next year’s session of the Ecumenical Council.

Msgr. Bateh disclosed that another cable was sent to the Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras in Istanbul requesting his personal intervention “to wipe out” the declaration “for the sake of church unity.” It was also reported here today from Beirut that President Helou of Lebanon is expected to undertake a mission on behalf of Arab governments and he may visit the Vatican. Mr. Helou is the only Christian Arab head of state. A Catholic of the Maronite rite, he served in 1958 as Lebanon’s Ambassador to the Holy See.