Pope Benedict XVI visits the Great Synagogue of Rome
For the first time in his pontificate Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday 17 January crossed the river Tiber in Rome to visit the Jewish community. He is the second pope to visit the Great Synagogue in the city. The Pope acknowledged the work of his predecessor Pope John Paul II and stated that he wishes the good relationship between Catholics and Jews to continue by naming the relationship an authentic fraternity and referring to the Ten Commandments and the love of God and neighbour. He also repeated his wish for peace in the Holy Land and for all humanity and remembered his visit in Jerusalem 12 May 2009.
In 1986 John Paul II became the first pope to visit a synagogue since the early history of the Roman Catholic Church. “The images and words of his visit forever changed mind-sets on relations between Christians and Jews. Sitting in an armchair next to that of Elio Toaff, the chief rabbi of Rome [at the time of the visit], he addressed Jews as dearly beloved elder brothers” said Lisa Palmieri Billig, the American Jewish Committee's liaison officer to the Vatican and three decade long co-president of Religions for Peace.
The papal visit took place on the Catholic Church's annual day for Dialogue with Judaism 17 January and comes at a time of increased tension between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community. On 19 December last year Pope Benedict raised Pius XII to "venerable" status - a step closer to beatification. This acknowledgement of the wartime pope caused criticism by some in the Jewish community as well as outside. Prior to the visit on Sunday Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said: "We have great expectations for what it can mean in terms of the general climate. If we stop at the things that divide us deeply, we won't get anywhere."
“The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah still hurts because something should have been done. Maybe it would not have stopped the death trains, but it would have sent a signal, a word of extreme comfort, of human solidarity, towards those brothers of ours transported to the ovens of Auschwitz”, said Riccardo Pacifici, President of the Jewish Community in Rom during the papal visit Sunday. He also underlined that many Christians and church communities did help the Jews in this tragic period of history and made a personal reference to his father’s survival at the time of the deportations and said that he found shelter in a church when many of the Roman Jews were deported on 16 October 1943.
European Council of Religious Leaders – Religions for Peace co-workers Naomi Sender and Ingrid Rosendorf Joys, a Jew and a Catholic respectively, were among some twelve hundred invitees to this historic event. ECRL Head of Communications, Ingrid Rosendorf Joys, said: “I am encouraged by this encounter between the head of the Catholic Church and the Jewish community in Rome. For the past couple of years the climate has not been the best, but my belief is that the body language of this meeting will bear fruits for future dialogue between Catholics and Jews.”
The Pontiff’s visit was co-hosted by the umbrella organisation of the Jewish communities in Italy and the Jewish community of Rome in co-operation with the Vatican. The Jewish community in Rome is the second oldest Diaspora community outside Jerusalem. There are 15 synagogues in the city.
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