ROME – The Vatican’s top official for dialogue with Jews has attempted to smooth over a rift that opened last month when several prominent rabbis complained about a speech given by Pope Francis in which he said the Torah, meaning Jewish scripture and law, “does not give life.” Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in an effort to reduce tensions, sent letters to two rabbis representing groups that had public objected to the pope’s remarks. In the letters, Koch tried to explain the theological background of the papal comments and pointed to Francis’s...