70 years ago: Pope Pius XII issues his encyclical In Multiplicibus Curis on Jerusalem

On October 23, 1948, Pope Pius issued his encyclical In Mulltiplicibus Curis, concerned with Jerusalem. At the time of this encyclical Israel had been a state for barely five months, and Jews and Arabs were fighting, with the occasional brief cease-fire, in what was then popularly known as Palestine.

The pontiff, in this encyclical, expressed a desire for peace in Palestine, but In Multiplicibus Curis mainly expressed concern for the protection of Jerusalem's holy sites and protection for those worshipping at them. The traditional Roman Catholic view of Jerusalem is that it belongs under the sovereignty of the Pope. The perceptive reader will notice that nowhere in this encyclical did Pope Pius XII acknowledge Israeli or Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem; on the contrary, he called for international control over the city:

8. We are full of faith that these prayers and these hopes, an indication of the value that the Holy Places have for so great a part of the human family, will strengthen the conviction in the high quarters in which the problems of peace are discussed that it would be opportune to give Jerusalem and its outskirts, where are found so many and such precious memories of the life and death of the Savior, an international character which, in the present circumstances, seems to offer a better guarantee for the protection of the sanctuaries. It would also be necessary to assure, with international guarantees, both free access to Holy Places scattered throughout Palestine, and the freedom of worship and the respect of customs and religious traditions.