The Vatican's embrace of a Palestinian state is wrong, but not unexpected, George Marlin, chairman of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, tells
Newsmax TV.
"I'm not surprised by it, although I respectfully disagree," said Marlin, author of the upcoming book,
"Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy."
"The Vatican curia of the secretary of state's office has always pretty much been very supportive of an independent Palestinian State. That has been their view."
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On Wednesday,
the Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty which includes all Catholic activities in Palestinian terrritory.
It means the Vatican has officially switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine. Not surprisingly, Israel is outraged by the move.
Marlin said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" that the Vatican curia is "very obviously European-minded … and [with] this Pope coming from a third world nation, I am not surprised by the decision.
"However, this is the Pope speaking as head of state. He is not talking on doctrinal matters.... One can easily disagree," Marlin said.
"I would not recognize a country who is sworn to destroy another country because of their religion. I have serious problems with this, but I'm not surprised."
Marlin, who is former CEO of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said his new book, to be published June 20th by St. Augustine's Press, traces the history of persecution of Christians around the world.
"This persecution did not begin with ISIS a year or so ago. I tracked anecdotally the eight countries where systemic persecution [has occurred], which are Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan," Marlin said.
"Year in and year out, there are persecutions and that means more than just killing people as ISIS does. It means educational discrimination, job discrimination, having your homes destroyed, Christian church burnings and bombings....
"It means your business being blown up because you're a Christian, your daughters being abducted, kidnapped, forced to convert or being held for ransom. It's driving out Christians who were there 600 years before the Muslims were there. What ISIS is now doing is trying to eradicate any trace of Christianity throughout the Middle East."
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