That is very interesting tp know. Are things still being returned?
I don't think things are being returned.
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The pope had met the previous chief rabbis during his pilgrimage to Israel in 2000, a visit he called one of the highlights of his papacy.
No pope has reached out to Jews and Muslims as has the 83-year-old pontiff, who grew up in a heavily Jewish town in Poland. John Paul has visited a synagogue in Rome and a mosque in Damascus, Syria, making him the first pope to visit Jewish and Muslim houses of worship.
Before leaving Israel, the rabbis said they would ask to search Vatican storerooms for artifacts such as the huge golden menora that stood in the temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
But Metzger said Friday they didn't mention the menora.
"We left it to his discretion to find an object that would be important to us," Metzger said. "We don't know if it exists, but if it does and they decide to give it to us there will be no greater joy for us."
They were shown manuscripts written by Moses Maimonides and asked that they be lent to Israel.
When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 CE, they took huge amounts of booty home. Legend has it that religious articles from the Temple, including the menora, were among them.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074329038208