….given the rising urgency of pursuing a dialogue with Islam, it was hardly obvious that Benedict’s successor in Rome would promote the church’s relationship with Judaism with the same focus and zeal, especially if the new pope came from outside Europe.
As it turned out, the College of Cardinals could not have elected a man with a clearer commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations than Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he had celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Hannukah in local synagogues, voiced solidarity with Jewish victims of terrorism, and co-written a book with a prominent rabbi. Touching on one of the most sensitive points in the relationship between Catholics and Jews, Bergoglio had called for the Vatican to open its archives from the pontificate of Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, to address lingering questions about whether the wartime pope had done or said enough to oppose the Nazi genocide.
It is relevant in this connection that the new pope comes from Buenos Aires, the city with the largest Jewish community in the Southern Hemisphere. No pope since the church’s early centuries has come from a society as culturally diverse as modern Argentina, which Francis has celebrated for its blend of ethnicities and religions.
I was in Buenos Aires last week, and the cathedral was the only one I’ve ever been in (including many in Europe!) with an official wall of remembrance about the Holocaust, prominently located in one of the chapels. Very moving.
This sounds a lot like: “some of my best friends are Jews”, patronizing to entire Jewish race. There are very clear reasons why Judaism rejects the claims of Jesus to have been the Messiah. One need only search the Scriptures and see that he doesn’t meet any of the criteria, so Francis can attend services in synagogues and eat matzos, but it has no theological value whatsoever as long as he holds to the claims made by Christians about their messiah.
I regularly attend the adult Friday noon class at Congregation Beth Israel. We recently read through Isaiah and later St. Matthew’s Gospel. I think RMBruton’s comment (#2) reflects a particular view of the scriptural witness to the Messiah, and I’d be interested in knowing more about it. But Jesus is Messiah for all.
RMBruton, there is no such thing as a “Jewish race.” Judaism is a religion.
Tom,
You can find the answers by researching the information at this website
http://www.outreachjudaism.org
#4 – seriously? Many Jews would disagree strongly with your statement.
My Jewish neighbor refers to the group as “the tribe,” and I think that is more correct than the term “race.” Personally, while I can spot many people of African ancestry or Asian ancestry, and can even in many cases tell which area of those continents their progenitors came from, I cannot necessarily spot a Jewish face absent cultural indicators like hats, shawls, and so on.
The Vatican archives from World War II are being catalogued. The collection is sure to be opened in 2014, or so I’ve read.