POPE FRANCIS RECOGNIZES "PALESTINIAN STATE"

The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects. The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, is both deeply symbolic and makes explicit that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine. The Vatican had welcomed the decision by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state and had referred to the Palestine state since. But the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state, giving the Vatican's former signs of recognition an unambiguous confirmation in a formal, bilateral treaty. "Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists," said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was "disappointed."
"This move does not promote the peace process and distances the Palestinian leadership from returning to direct and bilateral negotiations," the ministry said in a text message.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. 

VATICAN TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINE:  The Vatican has brokered at “treaty” with the “State of Palestine.” The treaty reportedly deals with the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestine. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is expected meet with Pope Francis over the weekend to finalize details.

The Vatican has referred to Palestine as a “state” since November 2012, when the UN voted to upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s status from “entity” to “non-member state.”  Just last week, Pope Francis said the Vatican would canonize two nuns who lived in Israel under Ottomon rule as “Palestinian saints.”

It hasn’t been very long since the Palestinian Authority/PLO was widely considered to be a terrorist organization.

Well, it’s all part of a global progressive movement. Pope Francis has been dogged by accusations that he is sympathetic to communism.  The Pope doesn’t help allay these concerns when he meets with Raul Castro, reinstates a Marxist “liberation theology,” vocally anti-Israel Nicaraguan priest who won the Lenin Peace Prize,invites a Peruvian liberation theology priest to speak, and hosts the World Meeting of Popular Movements, where he said attendees must unite ”against the structural causes of poverty, inequality, the lack of work, land and shelter, the denial of social and labor rights,” and confront the “empire of money.”

At a minimum, it seems Pope Francis is becoming very cozy with liberation theology, which is essentially a progressive/Marxist vision of Catholicism.  A top Soviet bloc defector recently claimed that liberation theology was created by the KGB.