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.
Yes, actually, if by "the old fashioned way" you mean sending committed, Godly missionaries to bring the Truth to the unenlightened. Voluntary assent to Truth is one of the keys to salvation.
What's the standard shorthand for "paranoid"?
Sorry, we aren't going away.
I don't recall having asked you to do so. No need to apologize.
idiot
>>Just so you know, I do not think that Luddite's comments are representative of the feelings of all FR Catholics.<<
Thank you!
It makes me angry.
idiot
How odd that you would quote my post, then simply sign your name. But thanks for the heads-up, anyway.
I'm reviewing the posts here, and wondering where on Earth you got the wild notion that I was in any way "slamming Jews". If you want to argue that Catholic Tradition does not require at a very minimum belief in the divinity of Christ for salvation, you can do so, but you'd be on pretty shaky theological ground. Merely stating the position of the catholic Church for the better part of 2000 years is hardly "slamming Jews". I can't help it if longstanding terms for non-believers make you uncomfortable, but any perjorative connotations associated with such terms are purely in your own mind.
Why is that? Because "Jew = liberal"?
JPII obviously didn't have much luck with you. Maybe Benedict XVI will fare better.
By the way, lest there be misunderstanding, do you CLAIM to be Roman Catholic? If so, do you nonetheless adhere to the SSPX which was declared a schism by John Paul II? If not, some other form of Christian? Credit for your post needs to be allocated where it belongs.
A story told of St. Ignatius Loyola, Jesuit founder, has it that one of his early priests approached him and warned him that another Jesuit, Fr. Lainez, was a Morano or secret Jew. Ignatius immediately responded to the warning by saying: "How very fortunate Fr. Lainez must be to be related not only to Mary but also to His Blessed Mother!" Lainez later became Superior general of the Jesuits.
Rumor also has it that each and every one of the Twelve Apostles and Jude Thaddeus as well and St. John the Baptist and St. Paul were, well, Jewish and that each of them acquired the new first name: Saint!
The holocaust experienced by your people in the 1930s and 1940s is not going to happen again. To get to you, they will have to come through us. I promise that and I know I am not alone among Catholics by any means.
I'm down for that.
This thread is disturbingly ugly. My apologies as well.
The Catholic Church has suffered a nasty little minor schism in 1988 and subsequently in which an offensive little group of people known as SSPX or the Society of St. Pius X have been lashing out in hatred against Catholicism (and not just Catholicism) since they were declared schismatic and their leaders excommunicated by John Paul II. Anything John Paul II did just HAD to be evil accroding to these malcontents who resent the discipline imposed upon them by him. Benedict XVI was JP II's closest protege and is therefore on their enemies' list as well. They do NOT speak for Catholicism no matter what they call themselves on the Internet or elsewhere. Pay no attention to them and do not take them as serious people or regard them as Catholics. Catholics don't.
Hiya, BlackElk. I am aware that the majority of Catholics had no issue with JPII visiting a synagogue or his close relationship withg the chief rabbi of Rome, nor would they have an issue with B-16 carrying on that relationship. There is, however, the ever present vocal minority, who is doing more harm to the RCC than Luther could have ever done with their constant handwringing, ire, and schismatic behavior.
Catholics, following John Paul II (and many probably earlier than that) consider Jews to be our elder siblings in Faith. Without Judaism, there would have been no Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ, there would be no Catholicism and no Christianity more generally. Or, in short, without Judaism, there could be NO CATHOLICISM and NO CHRISTIANITY.
May you and yours receive every blessing.
Thanks for the reply. I didn't know I was contesting with SSPX type. They do seem to carry an unreasonable anti Jew bias don't they?
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