Ties strained as Vatican plays down Jewish boycott
(January 15, 2009) The Vatican played down strains in Catholic-Jewish relations on
Wednesday after a leading Italian Rabbi accused Pope Benedict of wiping out 50 years
of dialogue and announced a boycott of a key Church event. Elia Enrico Richetti, chief
rabbi of Venice, said Italian Jews would boycott an annual Church celebration of Judaism,
set for January 17, partly because of the reintroduction last year of a prayer for
the conversion of the Jews. "If (to the prayer) we add the pope's recent statements
on dialogue being useless because the Christian faith is superior, it is clear that
we are moving towards the cancellation of 50 years of Church history," he wrote in
the Jesuit journal Popoli. Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge
of relations with Jews, said he was surprised by Richetti's remarks and defended the
pope's record of pursuing dialogue. He suggested troubles with Jews appeared to be
mostly limited to Italy. Striking a moderate tone, Rome's Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di
Segni agreed dialogue "must move ahead despite difficulties" and acknowledged that
the pope had made some contributions. Last year the Vatican revised a contested Latin
prayer used by traditionalist Catholics. But Jews criticised the new version because
it still says they should recognise Jesus Christ as the saviour of all men and it
kept an underlying call to conversion. Pope Benedict could visit Holy Land sites
in Israel in May but some diplomats say Israel's siege of Gaza has put the possible
trip into doubt. One of the pope's top aides, Cardinal Renato Martino, last week angered
Israel by calling Gaza "a big concentration camp".