(17 Jan 10 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI visited Rome's Synagogue on Sunday Afternoon.
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Translation of Pope Benedict XVI address at the Rome Synagogue
“What
marvels the Lord worked for them! What marvels the Lord worked for us: Indeed
we were glad” (Ps 126)
“How good and how pleasant it is when brothers live
in unity” (Ps 133)
Dear Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome, President
of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, President of the Jewish Community of
Rome, Rabbis, Distinguished Authorities, Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
1.
At the beginning of this encounter in the Great Synagogue of the Jews of Rome, the
Psalms which we have heard suggest to us the right spiritual attitude in which to
experience this particular and happy moment of grace: the praise of the Lord, who
has worked marvels for us and has gathered us in his Hèsed, his merciful love, and
thanksgiving to him for granting us this opportunity to come together to strengthen
the bonds which unite us and to continue to travel together along the path of reconciliation
and fraternity. I wish to express first of all my sincere gratitude to you, Chief
Rabbi, Doctor Riccardo Di Segni, for your invitation and for the thoughtful words
which you have addressed to me. I wish to thank also the President of the Union of
Italian Jewish Communities, Mr Renzo Gattegna, and the President of the Jewish Community
of Rome, Mr Riccardo Pacifici, for their courteous greetings. My thoughts go to the
Authorities and to all present, and they extend in a special way, to the entire Jewish
Community of Rome and to all who have worked to bring about this moment of encounter
and friendship which we now share. When he came among you for the first time,
as a Christian and as Pope, my Venerable Predecessor John Paul II, almost 24 years
ago, wanted to make a decisive contribution to strengthening the good relations between
our two communities, so as to overcome every misconception and prejudice. My visit
forms a part of the journey already begun, to confirm and deepen it. With sentiments
of heartfelt appreciation, I come among you to express to you the esteem and the affection
which the Bishop and the Church of Rome, as well as the entire Catholic Church, have
towards this Community and all Jewish communities around the world.
2. The
teaching of the Second Vatican Council has represented for Catholics a clear landmark
to which constant reference is made in our attitude and our relations with the Jewish
people, marking a new and significant stage. The Council gave a strong impetus to
our irrevocable commitment to pursue the path of dialogue, fraternity and friendship,
a journey which has been deepened and developed in the last forty years, through important
steps and significant gestures. Among them, I should mention once again the historic
visit by my Venerable Predecessor to this Synagogue on 13 April 1986, the numerous
meetings he had with Jewish representatives, both here in Rome and during his Apostolic
Visits throughout the world, the Jubilee Pilgrimage which he made to the Holy Land
in the year 2000, the various documents of the Holy See which, following the Second
Vatican Council’s Declaration Nostra Aetate, have made helpful contributions to the
increasingly close relations between Catholics and Jews. I too, in the course of
my Pontificate, have wanted to demonstrate my closeness to and my affection for the
people of the Covenant. I cherish in my heart each moment of the pilgrimage that
I had the joy of making to the Holy Land in May of last year, along with the memories
of numerous meetings with Jewish Communities and Organizations, in particular my visits
to the Synagogues of Cologne and New York. Furthermore, the Church has not failed
to deplore the failings of her sons and daughters, begging forgiveness for all that
could in any way have contributed to the scourge of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism
(cf. Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, We Remember: A Reflection on
the Shoah, 16 March 1998). May these wounds be healed forever! The heartfelt prayer
which Pope John Paul II offered at the Western Wall on 26 March 2000 comes back to
my mind, and it calls forth a profound echo in our hearts: “God of our Fathers, you
chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the nations: we are deeply
saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these
children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves
to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant.”
3. The passage of
time allows us to recognize in the Twentieth Century a truly tragic period for humanity:
ferocious wars that sowed destruction, death and suffering like never before; frightening
ideologies, rooted in the idolatry of man, of race, and of the State, which led to
brother killing brother. The singular and deeply disturbing drama of the Shoah represents,
as it were, the most extreme point on the path of hatred that begins when man forgets
his Creator and places himself at the centre of the universe. As I noted during my
visit of 28 May 2006 to the Auschwitz Concentration camp, which is still profoundly
impressed upon my memory, “the rulers of the Third Reich wanted to crush the entire
Jewish people”, and, essentially, “by wiping out this people, they intended to kill
the God who called Abraham, who spoke on Sinai and laid down principles to serve as
a guide for mankind, principles that remain eternally valid” (Discourse at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Concentration Camp: The Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, II, 1 [2006], p.727). Here
in this place, how could we not remember the Roman Jews who were snatched from their
homes, before these very walls, and who with tremendous brutality were killed at Auschwitz?
How could one ever forget their faces, their names, their tears, the desperation faced
by these men, women and children? The extermination of the people of the Covenant
of Moses, at first announced, then systematically programmed and put into practice
in Europe under the Nazi regime, on that day tragically reached as far as Rome. Unfortunately,
many remained indifferent, but many, including Italian Catholics, sustained by their
faith and by Christian teaching, reacted with courage, often at risk of their lives,
opening their arms to assist the Jewish fugitives who were being hunted down, and
earning perennial gratitude. The Apostolic See itself provided assistance, often
in a hidden and discreet way. The memory of these events compels us to strengthen
the bonds that unite us so that our mutual understanding, respect and acceptance may
always increase.
4. Our closeness and spiritual fraternity find in the Holy
Bible - in Hebrew Sifre Qodesh or “Book of Holiness” – their most stable and lasting
foundation, which constantly reminds us of our common roots, our history and the rich
spiritual patrimony that we share. It is in pondering her own mystery that the Church,
the People of God of the New Covenant, discovers her own profound bond with the Jews,
who were chosen by the Lord before all others to receive his word (cf. Catechism of
the Catholic Church, 839). “The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions,
is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews ‘belong
the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the
promises; to them belong the patriarchs and of their race, according to the flesh
is the Christ’ (Rom 9:4-5), ‘for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable!’ (Rom
11:29)” (Ibid).
Many lessons may be learnt from our common heritage derived
from the Law and the Prophets. I would like to recall some of them: first of all,
the solidarity which binds the Church to the Jewish people “at the level of their
spiritual identity”, which offers Christians the opportunity to promote “a renewed
respect for the Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament” (cf. Pontifical Biblical
Commission, The Jewish people and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible,
2001, pp.12 and 55); the centrality of the Decalogue as a common ethical message of
permanent value for Israel, for the Church, for non-believers and for all of humanity;
the task of preparing or ushering in the Kingdom of the Most High in the “care for
creation” entrusted by God to man for him to cultivate and to care for responsibly
(cf. Gen 2:15).
6. In particular, the Decalogue – the “Ten Words” or Ten Commandments
(cf. Ex 20:1-17; Dt 5:1-21) – which comes from the Torah of Moses, is a shining light
for ethical principles, hope and dialogue, a guiding star of faith and morals for
the people of God, and it also enlightens and guides the path of Christians. It constitutes
a beacon and a norm of life in justice and love, a “great ethical code” for all humanity.
The “Ten Commandments” shed light on good and evil, on truth and falsehood, on justice
and injustice, and they match the criteria of every human person’s right conscience.
Jesus himself recalled this frequently, underlining the need for active commitment
in living the way of the Commandments: “If you wish to enter into life, observe the
Commandments” (Mt 19:17). From this perspective, there are several possible areas
of cooperation and witness. I would like to recall three that are especially important
for our time. The “Ten Commandments” require that we recognize the one Lord, against
the temptation to construct other idols, to make golden calves. In our world there
are many who do not know God or who consider him superfluous, without relevance for
their lives; hence, other new gods have been fabricated to whom man bows down. Reawakening
in our society openness to the transcendent dimension, witnessing to the one God,
is a precious service which Jews and Christians can offer together. The “Ten Commandments”
call us to respect life and to protect it against every injustice and abuse, recognizing
the worth of each human person, created in the image and likeness of God. How often,
in every part of the world, near and far, the dignity, the freedom and the rights
of human beings are trampled upon! Bearing witness together to the supreme value
of life against all selfishness, is an important contribution to a new world where
justice and peace reign, a world marked by that “shalom” which the lawgivers, the
prophets and the sages of Israel longed to see. The “Ten Commandments” call us
to preserve and to promote the sanctity of the family, in which the personal and reciprocal,
faithful and definitive “Yes” of man and woman makes room for the future, for the
authentic humanity of each, and makes them open, at the same time, to the gift of
new life. To witness that the family continues to be the essential cell of society
and the basic environment in which human virtues are learned and practised is a precious
service offered in the construction of a world with a more human face.
7.
As Moses taught in the Shema (cf. Dt 6:5; Lev 19:34) – and as Jesus reaffirms in the
Gospel (cf. Mk 12:19-31), all of the Commandments are summed up in the love of God
and loving-kindness towards one’s neighbour. This Rule urges Jews and Christians
to exercise, in our time, a special generosity towards the poor, towards women and
children, strangers, the sick, the weak and the needy. In the Jewish tradition there
is a wonderful saying of the Fathers of Israel: “Simon the Just often said: The world
is founded on three things: the Torah, worship, and acts of mercy” (Avoth 1:2). In
exercising justice and mercy, Jews and Christians are called to announce and to bear
witness to the coming Kingdom of the Most High, for which we pray and work in hope
each day.
8. On this path we can walk together, aware of the differences that
exist between us, but also aware of the fact that when we succeed in uniting our hearts
and our hands in response to the Lord’s call, his light comes closer and shines on
all the peoples of the world. The progress made in the last forty years by the International
Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations and, in more recent years, by the Mixed Commission
of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and of the Holy See, are a sign of our common will
to continue an open and sincere dialogue. Tomorrow here in Rome, in fact, the Mixed
Commission will hold its ninth meeting, on “Catholic and Jewish Teaching on Creation
and the Environment”; we wish them a profitable dialogue on such a timely and important
theme.
9. Christians and Jews share to a great extent a common spiritual patrimony,
they pray to the same Lord, they have the same roots, and yet they often remain unknown
to each other. It is our duty, in response to God’s call, to strive to keep open
the space for dialogue, for reciprocal respect, for growth in friendship, for a common
witness in the face of the challenges of our time, which invite us to cooperate for
the good of humanity in this world created by God, the Omnipotent and Merciful.
10.
Finally, I offer a particular reflection on this, our city of Rome, where, for nearly
two millennia, as Pope John Paul II said, the Catholic Community with its Bishop and
the Jewish Community with its Chief Rabbi have lived side by side. May this proximity
be animated by a growing fraternal love, expressed also in closer cooperation, so
that we may offer a valid contribution to solving the problems and difficulties that
we still face. I beg from the Lord the precious gift of peace in the world, above
all in the Holy Land. During my pilgrimage there last May, at the Western Wall in
Jerusalem, I prayed to Him who can do all things, asking: “Send your peace upon this
Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family; stir the hearts of
those who call upon your name, to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion”
(Prayer at the Western Wall of Jerusalem, 12 May 2009). I give thanks and praise
to God once again for this encounter, asking him to strengthen our fraternal bonds
and to deepen our mutual understanding.
“O praise the Lord, all you
nations, acclaim him, all you peoples. Strong is his love for us, He is faithful
forever. Alleluia” (Ps 117)