FUNDAMENTOS DEL TRIBUNAL Sentencia en mayoría

The Holy See would spend the next three years in further developing and implementing its strategy for a separate Apostolic Delegation for Palestine sympathetic to the plight of Eastern rite Catholics, which would involve the progressive downgrading of the role and public position of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. The overriding objectives appear clearly to have been to strengthen the capacity to achieve the two long-term policies for the Holy See in the Holy Land, the protection of the Holy Places and the nurturing of the indigenous Catholic population of Palestine. For these purposes the Holy See now felt it could no longer rely on either the Latin Patriarch or the Franciscan Custode, its historic agents for progressing these policies, and needed its own direct representative. With regard to the indigenous Catholic population of Palestine, the Holy See now demonstrated its growing perception that the Eastern rite Catholic Church, principally under Greek- Melkite bishops, might be a better vehicle for attracting Greek Orthodox Palestinians/Arabs into union with the Roman Church than the Latin Patriarchate had proved itself to be.

This perception would now dominate the thinking of the Holy See about its second major strategy for the Holy Land throughout the remainder of the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. Two different Congregations of the Roman Curia, Propaganda Fide and the Eastern Churches,180 would be pitched against each other in a long-drawn out and sometimes bitter struggle, the former defending its long dominance of the Catholic missions in the Holy Land and its oversight of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the latter seeking to take over responsibility for the whole of the Catholic missions work in Palestine, including oversight of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem itself. Monsignor Barlassina would find himself something of a pawn in this struggle over the next decade. Father Robinson was seen within the Roman

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Curia as the best person to handle these difficult matters for the Holy See and bring them to a successful outcome.

Whilst the various efforts to have Robinson appointed to episcopal office within the Catholic hierarchy of the Holy Land had been unsuccessful, it seems clear that the Holy See continued to consider Robinson as having an invaluable role to play in resolving difficult issues within the Catholic Church, both Latin and Eastern rites, in Palestine. Cardinal Van Rossum of Propaganda Fide wrote to Monsignor Barlassina on 4 December 1926 to inform him that Robinson was once again being asked to undertake an Apostolic Visitation in Palestine on behalf of the Holy See, this time ostensibly to consider the questions of relations between the German Society in the Holy Land and the Franciscan Custody and certain other matters relating to the Franciscan Custody, including one minor matter concerning the Latin Patriarchate.181

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported favourably on this appointment from Rome on 2 July 1927, noting that:

The appointment of Father Robinson is regarded as a demonstration of the desire of the Vatican to be in good relations with the British Mandatory Power in Palestine, a desire which was demonstrated also by the elevation in 1925 [sic] of Monsignor Godric Kean, an Englishman, to be Auxiliary Patriarch in Jerusalem. It was stated at the time that the Vatican regarded Monsignor Kean’s position as of great value in the furtherance of its efforts to bring about a friendly understanding with the British Mandatory in Palestine on the subject of the rights of the Catholic Church in Palestine and the regulation of the question of the Holy Places.182

181_{E.9. Protocollo No 7/1 of 4 December 1926 from Cardinal Van Rossum to Monsignor Barlassina.} 182

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Rome , 2 July 1927, Englishman Appointed Apostolic Delegate to Egypt and Palestine, http://www.jta.org/1927/07/05/archive/englishman-appointed-apostolic-delegate--to- egypt-and-palestine. It appears that Monsignor Robinson had been appointed Apostolic Visitor, not Delegate, to Palestine but with a status which exceeded that of the Latin Patriarch.

The now Monsignor Paschal Robinson left Rome and arrived in Jerusalem on 13 September 1927 to undertake his Apostolic Visitation, a Visitation which would last until Robinson’s departure from Jerusalem on 28 April 1928 and which would actually focus closely on the relationship between Latin and Greek rite Catholics in Palestine and the Transjordan.183 The presence of Monsignor Robinson, and his enquiries into the relationship between Latin and Eastern rite Catholic Churches in the Holy Land, provoked serious tension with the Latin Patriarch under whose roof Robinson was lodged in Jerusalem. On 26 October 1927 Monsignor Barlassina himself submitted a Memoria entitled “The Melkites in Palestine”, which traced the history of the perceived disorders between the Greek rite and Latin rite Catholic communities of Palestine from 1893.184 Barlassina complained bitterly to Propaganda Fide about the treatment being accorded to the Latin Patriarchate by the Holy See through this Robinson enquiry.185

The 1927 Robinson Visitation now drew towards a successful conclusion in early 1928. Robinson wrote to Cardinal Van Rossum on 28 February 1928 to report on his progress, noting that he had been able to resolve amicably the problems involving the Patriarchate and the Custody by September 1927 and that the relationship between the Patriarchate and the Custody were now cordial.186 One senses the discrete and almost invisible healing touch of Monsignor Robinson which had caused the Holy See to turn to him so often to resolve difficulties within the Catholic Church there. In the various correspondence of this period between Barlassina, Robinson and Gasparri one detects that the Secretary of State of the Holy See was now ensuring that he had dispassionate and reliable advice on the situation in Palestine from Robinson to counterbalance what were increasingly seen as alarmist reports

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E.9.Rendiconto del Danaro Ricevuto e Speso dal Visitatore Apostolico di Palestine, which gives the