Holy Father, Holy Land

(01 May 09 - RV) The countdown has begun. With only one week to go now until Pope Benedict's pilgrimage to the cradle of Christianity, the Israeli postal service has issued a dozen special stamps to mark the Papal pilgrimage. The stamps, which will be made available to the public on Monday, feature 12 Christian holy sites in Israel that the pope will visit during his pilgrimage.


Meanwhile, The Holy See and the State of Israel have made significant progress in negotiations on economic and tax agreements between the Catholic Church and Israel.
The Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel met yesterday in plenary session at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The delegations were headed, respectively, by Mgr Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's under-secretary for Relations with States, and Mr. Danny Ayalon, the deputy foreign minister of the Government of Israel.
After a half day of talks the two delegations released a joint communiqué in which they noted that “significant progress” had been made by working-level negotiators in the months since the previous plenary in December of last year, and announced that the next plenary is scheduled to take place on 10 December this year, at the Vatican.