In interfaith move, Pope Francis will visit Rome’s synagogue in January

Last updated on: November 17, 2015 at 2:55 pm by CNA Daily News

In interfaith move, Pope Francis will visit Rome’s synagogue in January 2015-11-17T14:55:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vatican City, Nov 17, 2015 / 07:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis will soon become the third-ever Roman Pontiff to visit the Great Synagogue in Rome, following in the footsteps of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

“Following the invitation from the Chief Rabbi and Jewish Community of Rome, Pope Francis will pay a visit to the Great Synagogue in the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016,” a Nov. 17 communique from the Vatican read.

Known for the great emphasis he places on ecumenism, Francis will follow in the footsteps of two of his predecessors. In 1986 St. John Paul II became the first Pope to visit the synagogue. Benedict XVI imitated the gesture, making a visit of his own in 2010.

According to the Vatican communique, the visit will consist of a personal encounter between Pope Francis and representatives of Judaism and the members of the Jewish Community in Rome.

Specific details on the encounter, however, will be published “in due course.”

Pope Francis is the latest in a string of pontiffs since St. John XXIII who have made Catholic relations with the Jews a priority.

St. John XXIII, frequently referred to as “the Good Pope,” is known to have saved thousands of Jewish lives while serving as apostolic nuncio to Turkey during World War II, creating false, though official-looking documents and papers for Jewish refugees seeking to escape into Palestine.

He formed a network of other Church officials and neutral politicians whom he enlisted to assist him in his efforts to save and protect the Jewish people.

In calling the Second Vatican Council, St. John XXIII provided the necessary space to re-examine the Church’s relationship with other religions, which culminated in the promulgation of Nostra aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christians religions.

In an Oct. 28 interview with CNA, Rabbi David Rosen noted that while Bl. Paul VI certainly followed in St. John XXIII’s footsteps in publishing the document, as well as being the first Pope to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Church’s relationship with the Jews made “a quantum leap” during the papacy of St. John Paul II.

Rosen is international director of Interreligious Affairs at the American Jewish Committee as well as a member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He is also part of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews.

St. John Paul II has a long track-record of papal-firsts in relation to the Jewish people: in 1979 he was the first Pope to go to Auschwitz and pay homage to the Jewish people who died in the extermination camps; in 1986 he became the first Pope since the first century to enter a synagogue; he was the first Pope to acknowledge the State of Israel in 1993, and was the first Pope who publicly recalled the Holocaust, at the Vatican in 1994. He was also the first Pope to host and honor a long-term Jewish friend in a Pontifical residence.

While Benedict XVI continued to build on St. John Paul II’s legacy, Rosen said that “we’ve reached a new height with Pope Francis.”

“There’s never been a Pope in history, probably since the first, since Peter, who knew the Jewish community as well as this Pope has done in his own adulthood,” he said, noting how as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, then-Cardinal Bergoglio often visited synagogues and Jewish celebrations.

So when it comes to Pope Francis, “we’re not dealing with someone who just understands cognitively or even in his heart that this has to be done.”

Francis, Rosen said, is somebody who understands the Jewish reality “in his core…and has engaged with it. And that’s very definitely a new, significant stage in the wonderful transformation of our relationship.”

Vatican

Previous Post

November 17, 2015

Here's what the US bishops were most impressed with at the Synod

Next Post

November 17, 2015 Parolin on ISIS threats: Vatican may be a target, but we're not backing down

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Sheol," often found in Psalms, mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Eternal light The grave or abode of the dead Above the mountain Blessing