Pope Benedict XVI Receives American Jewish Delegation
(12 Feb 09 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI today received a delegation from the Conference
of Major American Jewish Organizations. Chris Altieri reports… The Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations came into being more than a half
century ago, and now represents over 50 national Jewish agencies. The Conference
works to build consensus among and advocate in behalf of the American Jewish community
on questions of national and international importance. One of the leaders representing
the Conference of Presidents this Thursday was Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who hosted the
Holy Father at Park East Synagogue in April of last year, and addressed the Pope on
behalf of the Conference… The first papal visit to an American synagogue was another
expression of your outreach to the Jewish community. Today the Presidents Conference
of Major American Jewish Organizations delegation enjoys your hospitality at a trying
moment in Catholic-Jewish relations. We thank you for this encounter that will help
bring healing and mutual understanding. A Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Schneier thanked
the Holy Father for recent statements reiterating his support for the Jewish people
and his unequivocal condemnation of anti-semitism in all its forms… Thank you for
understanding our pain and anguish and your firm statement expressing “unquestioned
solidarity” with the Jewish people and condemning Holocaust denial. Pope Benedict
also fondly recalled his visit to the Park East Synagogue, which he visited last Spring
just a few hours before the start of Passover. Now, I am glad to have this opportunity
to offer you hospitality here in my own home. Such meetings as this enable us to demonstrate
our respect for one another. I want you to know that you are all most welcome here
today in the house of Peter, the home of the Pope. The Holy Father said the two-thousand-year
history of the relationship between Judaism and the Church has passed through many
different phases, some of them painful to recall. Now that we are able to meet
in a spirit of reconciliation, we must not allow past difficulties to hold us back
from extending to one another the hand of friendship. Indeed, what family is there
that has not been troubled by tensions of one kind or another? The Pope said the
Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Nostra Aetate marked a milestone in the journey
towards reconciliation, and clearly outlined the principles that have governed the
Church’s approach to Christian-Jewish relations ever since. The Church is profoundly
and irrevocably committed to reject all anti-Semitism and to continue to build good
and lasting relations between our two communities. The Pope went on to say the
hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was
a crime against God and against humanity. It is beyond question that any denial
or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable and altogether unacceptable.
Pope Benedict XVI said the the terrible chapter in our history that was the Shoah
must never be forgotten. It is my fervent prayer that the memory of this appalling
crime will strengthen our determination to heal the wounds that for too long have
sullied relations between Christians and Jews. It is my heartfelt desire that the
friendship we now enjoy will grow ever stronger, so that the Church’s irrevocable
commitment to respectful and harmonious relations with the people of the Covenant
will bear fruit in abundance. The Holy Father also said he is preparing a trip
to Israel, the land where he said the roots of our faith are found.