Building on 50 years of Christian - Jewish Dialogue: Card. Kurt Koch

May 17, 2012: The unprecedented atrocities of the Holocaust, where Christians were "both perpetrators and victims", and certainly large numbers "were passive spectators" who "kept their eyes closed" before the brutal reality, was one of the ideas in a lecture held on Wednesday at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism.

The cardinal was invited by John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue, led by Rabbi Jack Bemporad, as host of the fifth edition of Lecture Berrie. The initiative, also sponsored by the Russell Berrie Foundation in New York, aims to increase mutual understanding between faiths hosting interventions with many renowned personalities who stand out for their commitment in this field. Cardinal Koch's lecture dedicated 50 years to dialogue between Christians and Jews on the basis of the Council's Declaration on Non-Christian Religions Viz "Nostra Aetate Building on: 50 Years of Christian-Jewish Dialogue).

By being aware of the spiritual affinity, we need to "to get a better understanding of each other, so that we" as a people of God bear witness to peace and reconciliation in the world today which is not reconciled and that they can be a blessing not only for each other but together for all humanity.” He said.

Highlighting the present Pope’s commitment to the cause he added that no other pope in history has visited as many synagogues as Benedict XVI.