Sulfur tolerant hydrocarbon conversion catalyst

A process for preparing a catalytic composite consisting essentially of a molecular sieve support having dispersed thereon palladium and a modifier, and a binder, the support selected from the group consisting of Me.sub.x APSO, zeolite Y and mixtures thereof, where Me is a metal selected from the group consisting of magnesium, manganese, cobalt, iron, zinc, and mixtures thereof, x has a value from greater than zero to about 0.5, the modifier selected from the group consisting of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, and mixtures thereof and the binder is selected from the group consisting of alumina, silica, silica/alumina, and mixtures thereof, the process comprising impregnating the support with an aqueous solution containing a palladium compound and a modifier compound, drying the impregnated support at a temperature of about 600.degree. C. to about 300.degree. C. to give a dried catalytic composite and treating the dried catalytic composite at a temperature of about 300.degree. C. to about 500.degree. C. with a H.sub.2 /H.sub.2 S gas mixture for a time of about 1 to about 10 hours thereby providing said composite.