THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, April 16, 1949

• Pope Pius XII's second encyclical
• Jerusalem Israel & Palestine ordeal
• Jews - Jewish - Judaica - Arabs

The front page has a two column heading: "Pope Asks Israel for Catholic Rights" with subhead. (see images)
Complete with 24 pages, Light toning at the margins, small binding holes along the spine, generally in good condition.

Background: The significance of Redemptoris nostri cruciatus lies in its foundational role in shaping modern Vatican diplomacy in the Middle East and its early, explicit recognition of the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian refugees. By formalizing the Holy See's demand for the corpus separatum—an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem—Pope Pius XII sought to elevate the protection of holy sites above the sovereignty of either the newly formed State of Israel or neighboring Arab states. This insistence on internationalization, combined with the Pope's public lament over the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, marked a pivotal moment where the papacy leveraged its global moral authority to advocate for both religious freedom and human rights in a highly volatile post-war landscape. Furthermore, by framing the preservation of Christian holy places as a matter of international law rather than local governance, the encyclical established a diplomatic framework that guided Vatican policy for decades, striking a delicate balance between protecting Catholic institutional interests and navigating the complex geopolitical realities of the Arab-Israeli conflict.