Israeli government minister meets Pope
Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, accompanied by Israeli Ambassador Oded Ben-Hur with advisors, visited the Pope at Castelgandolfo yesterday. Before the audience, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, met the delegatiohn. He told them that the position of the Holy See on peace, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on the general situation in the Middle East was well-known to the Israeli government. They discussed the Fundamental Agreement of 1993 and the Legal Personality Agreement of 1997 before speaking about the issue of entrance visas to Israel for Catholic religious personnel. Mr Poraz gave assurances that matters would be resolved "in a satisfactory way." During the meeting they also talked about the progress of negotiations underway in Jerusalem for the realization of an agreement that defines the fiscal questions of ecclesiastical institutions in Israel. Source: VIS