Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine The Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine is an agreement signed between the Vatican City State and the Palestinian Liberation Organization as representing the State of Palestine. It regulates the rights and obligations of the Catholic Church in areas of the Palestinian Authority, and reflects Vatican support of Palestinian aspirations for an independent state. The Vatican has been an ardent supporter of the Palestinian political struggle for an independent state ever since 1967. This support, in addition to the desire to gain support for
Foreign relations of the Holy See accredited also to the Holy See. For reasons of economy, therefore, smaller countries accredit to the Holy See a mission situated elsewhere and accredited also to the country of residence and perhaps other countries. Massimo Franco, author of "Parallel Empires", asserted in April 2009 that the Obama administration had put forward three candidates for consideration but each of them had been deemed insufficiently pro-life by the Vatican. This claim was denied by the Holy See's spokesman Federico Lombardi, and was dismissed by Thomas Patrick Melady, former United States Ambassador to the Holy See, as being in conflict with diplomatic practice.