Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, the Greek Catholic Patriarchal Vicar of East Jerusalem and the West Bunk, who was convicted for gun running in 1974, has been asked to Rome for a private papal audience to clarity his continued pro Palestinian stance. Archbishop Capucci was sentenced to 12 years in goal for his involvement in smuggling arms and explosives from Lebanon to Israel for the El Fatah terrorist group.
The Israeli authorities freed him after he had served three years of his sentence when they received an assurance from Pope Paul VI that the release could not he detrimental to Israel.
The Archbishop is believed to have been in Damascus since January when he was invited there from Latin America, allegedly by Yasser Arafat. the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation,
IP Anyone who recognises Jesus as the promised Messiah does not qualify legally as a Jew even if all his or -her ancestors were Jewish, the Israeli Supreme Court bus decided.
In a recent test case Miss Eillen Dorflinger, a Jewess by birth was denied Israeli citizenship and a permaent identity card because she had become a member of the "Jews for Jesus" movement.
When questioned about her religious beliefs, Miss Dorflinger said she still regarded herself as a Jewess but added that she accepted Jesus as the Messiah. Under Israeli law a Jew is either anyone born to a Jewish mother or a convert to Judaism. In either case the claimant must nut subscribe to any non-Jewish beliefs.