Catholic University Law Review Volume 47 Issue 2 Winter 1998 Article 11 1998 Progress for Pilgrims? An Analysis of the Holy See-Israel Fundamental Agreement Geoffrey R. Watson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation Geoffrey R. Watson, Progress for Pilgrims? An Analysis of the Holy See-Israel Fundamental Agreement, 47 Cath. U. L. Rev. 497 (1998). Available at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vol47/iss2/11 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by CUA Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Catholic University Law Review by an authorized editor of CUA Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. PROGRESS FOR PILGRIMS? AN ANALYSIS OF THE HOLY SEE-ISRAEL FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT Geoffrey R. Watson* The approach of the millennium is expected to draw unprecedented numbers of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Pope John Paul II has proclaimed the year 2000 a Jubilee Year, and he has issued an Apostolic Letter encouraging Catholics to participate by making pilgrimages to Is- rael and Rome. Indeed, the Pope has announced that he intends to visit the Holy Land before the end of the century.1 During normal years, more than two million Christian tourists visit Israel; in the year 2000, five to fifteen million tourists, mostly Christian, are expected to visit Israel.2 Among other things, Christian pilgrims will want to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; to see Nazareth, where Jesus grew up; and to make a pilgrimage to Christ's birthplace, Bethlehem, 2000 years after His birth.3 Yet as Professor Moshe Hirsch noted in his remarks at this Sympo- sium,4 the 1993 Fundamental Agreement5 between the Holy See and Is- * Visiting Associate Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America, Co- lumbus School of Law, Washington, D.C.