Posted on 05/15/2005 10:33:10 AM PDT by Alouette
Pope Benedict XVI has told the Israeli ambassador to the Vatican he intends to visit the main synagogue in Cologne, Germany, in August, becoming the second pontiff in history to visit a Jewish place of worship.
Ambassador Oded Ben-Hur said the pope told him of his intention following an audience with diplomats assigned to the Vatican on Thursday.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, made a groundbreaking visit to Rome's synagogue in 1986. The new pope has said he intends to continue John Paul's work toward improving relations between Roman Catholics and Jews.
"We're very happy, and this is a gesture that goes in line with the latest declarations" from the pope, Ben-Hur told The Associated Press by telephone Friday.
He said the intended visit showed Benedict's "desire to enhance and widen the dialogue with the Jewish people." One of Benedict's first acts in office was to invite Rome's chief rabbi to his April 24 installation Mass. During his homily that day, the pope made specific mention of "a great shared spiritual heritage" with Jews.
On Sunday, he sent a letter of birthday greetings to the former chief rabbi of Rome who received John Paul during his 1986 visit, saying Catholics and Jews can continue dialogue and look with "confidence" toward the future.
The pope is planning to make the synagogue visit during a planned trip to Cologne for World Youth Day, Ben-Hur said. The August 16-21 event is expected to draw tens of thousands of young people to the city.
Ben-Hur said he didn't know at what stage plans were for the visit.
Jews widely admired John Paul for his unstinting efforts to promote Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, including his 1986 synagogue visit and his 2000 visit to Israel. On the 2000 trip, John Paul won many Israeli hearts by apologizing for Roman Catholic wrongdoing over the centuries.
The path toward improved Catholic-Jewish ties was set before John Paul was elected – in the 1965 declaration Nostra Aetate, or "In our Age," from the Second Vatican Council. The document rejected the notion that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Christ. It promoted dialogue between the faiths and rejected anti-Semitism.
"All in all there is a series of declarations that brings us to believe that the pope will follow in the footsteps of the position that was set by the church in the last few years and ever since the Second Vatican Council, and especially during the papacy of Pope John Paul," Ben-Hur said Friday.
Benedict's effort to reach out to Jews carries an added dimension because of his membership in the Hitler Youth and later as a conscript in the German army during World War II. He said he was forced into both roles.
"Everything that the new pope has said and done since achieving the papacy demonstrates his intention to continue in the path set by his predecessor and forge even closer relations between Israel and the Vatican, between the Jewish people and the Catholic Church," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Friday, commenting on Ben-Hur's conversation with the pope.
Rome's current chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, was unable to attend Benedict's installation Mass as the ceremony fell on the first day of Passover, but Jewish officials said they were surprised and pleased by Benedict's gesture in inviting him.
I came from a time when Jews were looked upon as the worst of the worst -- for having "killed" Jesus. Thankfully, at least officially, that attitude has changed (although there are still some pockets of Catholicism where anti-semitism is still practiced).
Pope John Paul II has set a precedent now for establishing and continually maintaining a relationship between Catholics and Jews. I am delighted this Pope will follow...as I'm sure his successors will.
"I wasn't aware that Jews worshipped the Holy Trinity, as the Church requires Catholics to do."
Now, just for clarity, I was NOT addressing in any way who or what Jews worshipped at the time of Christ, nor do I particularly care about who or what Jews worshipped at the time of Christ, nor am I interested in the least in a discussion who or what Jews worshipped at the time of Christ. Christ established His Church through Peter. It still exists today. It happens to be the one I belong to. It's not a branch of Judaism.
I'll make it simple. Would your answer be:
A. I don't have a problem with it.
B. I do have a problem with it.
C. Its not the same God.
Why would you have a problem worshipping the same God Jesus worshipped?
To which you responded:
I wasn't aware that Jews worshipped the Holy Trinity, as the Church requires Catholics to do.
Jesus did not worship a trinity. Jesus was a Jew; not a Catholic, Baptist, Mormon, Armenian Orthodox, or Missouri Synod Lutheran.
Sh'ma Yisrael is most certainly, "Hello! Wake up! Pay attention!". If you look in most siddurim, the Sh'ma is in a much larger font, to get the point across. :-)
God willing, we will never have a generation of liturgical revisionist translators who will insist on inserting *those* exact words into the Orthodox liturgical services on the pretext of being more understandable! :-)
Very interesting about the larger font. BTW, do words relating to God, such as "him," "his," tend to be printed with initial capitalizations? This is a point of some minor controversy in Orthodox Christian translations of liturgical and Scriptural texts.
I have been reminded privately that Catholics and Jews have many beliefs in common, which is true and not to be ignored. Our shared moral theology derives from the same source, and indeed the vast majority of what Catholics consider Scripture would be recognised as such by Jews.
BUT ...
There's all that "stuff in the middle". Our respective understandings of the Divine Nature are mutually exclusive. That's not something we can ignore. At least one of us is wrong.
" That's not something we can ignore. At least one of us is wrong."
I hope you haven't inferred that I doubt this in the least!
No ... but that suggestion (that Christians and Jews can't BOTH be right) seems to disturb some people.
Well, Arrogant one, both CAN be right ON PART OF THE TRUTH. That's all I am trying to point out. But I am 100% behind making sure the rest of the truth is not blurred as well.
It's not a branch of Judaism.
Yes it is!
B'Shem Y'shua
chuck
Too bad.
In the near-term, I expect a large number of such will become available for employment due to wholesale executions layoffs at the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL.)
Jesus was a man AND God.
He prayed to the Father, and specifically mentioned the Holy Spirit (alluded to in some OT writings.)
But I certainly hope you're right. This weekend, I was at my children's vocal recital at a local "in the round" Catholic monstrosity (good acoustics, though). I did my usual horrified browsing through the Oregon missalette while waiting for the event to start....
When you are called to meet, personally, with St. Peter and His Boss, be CERTAIN to document the time you spent with the OCP publications.
It's worth a shot as 'penitential time.'
Jews also believe in the 'Holy Spirit'. However, we see it as simply the manifestation of God's power within creation, rather than as a separate hypostasis within a triune godhead.
Thanks!
Interesting. One of the names/attributes often applied to the Holy Spirit is 'pneumos' or 'breath' (without which there is no life.) So the immanence implied in your realization is there.
With the obvious excepted (Trinitarian theology) we're not all that far apart.
There aren't any upper or lower case letters in Hebrew. It's all one....case, I guess you'd say.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.