Angelo Roncalli Nuncio to Paris and the Establishment of the State of Israel

The article analyses the attitude of Angelo Roncalli, at that time Nuncio to Paris and successively Pope John XXIII, toward the establishment of the State of Israel. Through research based on various archival sources and personal papers, it shows how Roncalli’s attitude toward Zionism, the Middle Eastern question, and the establishment of Israel wasn’t the fruit of a deliberate political decision, but the result of a cultural and religious openness toward other faiths and cultures, including Judaism. Due to his background and experience, Roncalli was certainly one of the Vatican’s most sympathetic diplomats toward Jewish illegal immigration to Eretz Israel immediately after WW II, which he primarily considered a humanitarian issue. At the same time, he frequently showed his friendship toward Israel’s envoys and representatives, even if he never took an overt position toward the political aspects of the Middle Eastern crisis.