Pope receives Rome’s Jewish community

October 11, 2013 - The Jewish community and the Catholic Church have been coexisting in Rome for many centuries, with a history that is often marked by misunderstandings and also by real injustice. Pope Francis made the point on Friday while receiving a 30-member delegation of Rome’s Jewish community in the Vatican. However, he noted, it is also a history, which with the help of God, has come to know development of friendly and brotherly relations over many decades now. The Pope explained that this change of mentality on the part of the Catholic Church, is due to the reflection of the Second Vatican Council, but not in the least from the life and action of wise and generous men from both sides, who were able to recognize the call of the Lord to take up the new paths of encounter and dialogue with courage. “A Christian cannot be anti-Semitic ! Let Anti-Semitism be banished from the heart and life of every man and every woman!” the Pope stressed. The Pope said that in his capacity as Bishop of Rome he particularly feels close to the life of the city’s Jewish community, which with its over 2000 years of uninterrupted presence, can 'boast of being the most' ancient in Western Europe. The delegation received today by the Pope included among other the chief rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni , the president the Community ' Jewish Rome , Riccardo Pacifici, and President of the Union of Communities ' Jewish Italian , Renzo Gattegna. Pope Francis also made it an occasion to hand the delegation a written message on the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the deportation of 1,035 Roman Jews on Oct. 18, 1943 by the city’s Nazi occupiers.