Jewish Leaders Praise Pope Benedict Following Retirement Announcement
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Benedict Hitler Youth Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Catholic Jewish relations Christianity Judaism Israel Vatican relations Israeli chief rabbi Yona Metzger Pope Benedict Jewish Leaders Pope Benedict XVI Pope John Paul II Pope Pius XII World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder i
Pope Benedict XVI. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement Monday that he is planning to retire on February 28th, the first time a sitting pope will have stepped aside since the 14th century, has elicited reaction from several Jewish leaders around the world.
Monday, Israeli chief rabbi Yona Metzger praised his inter-religious outreach and current relations between Israel and the Vatican.
“During his period (as pope) there were the best relations ever between the church and the chief rabbinate and we hope that this trend will continue,” a spokesman quoted Metzger as saying after the pope announced he would resign. “I think he deserves a lot of credit for advancing inter-religious links the world over between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks also responded to Monday’s announcement, praising the pope’s character and recalling a meeting they had in 2011.
“I was honored to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to Britain on behalf of non-Christian faiths in 2010 and spend time with him during a visit to the Vatican in 2011,” he said.
“I saw him to be a man of gentleness, of quiet and of calm, a deeply thoughtful and compassionate individual who carried with him an aura of grace and wisdom. I wish him good health, blessings and best wishes for the future,” Rabbi Sacks added.
Despite the praise, Pope Benedict’s reign was not without its controversies. Having served in the Hitler Youth as a boy, the pope’s wartime actions were a source of tension. His continued support for Pope Pius XII, who held the position during the Holocaust, as well as his unwillingness to condemn the Catholic Church’s actions during the Second World War, didn’t help matters either.
In 2009, while on a visit to Israel, the pope refused to enter Yad Vashem because of its negative portrayal of Pope Pius XII. The trip was otherwise viewed as a success, with the World Jewish Congress praising it as a major step forward in relations between Judaism and Christianity.
But the Pope will be remembered more for his attempts to bridge the divide between Christianity and Judaism than anything else. In a book published in 2011, he exonerated the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, a doctrine that has been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews. While the Vatican had for five decades taught that Jews weren’t collectively responsible, Jewish scholars said the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff was significant and would help fight anti-Semitism.
On Monday World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder issued a statement expressing his admiration for the pope’s efforts to improve relations with the Jewish community: “It is with great emotion that we learned today that Pope Benedict XVI will retire at the end of this month. His decision deserves our greatest respect.”
“The papacy of Benedict XVI elevated Catholic-Jewish relations onto an unprecedented level. Not only did he maintain the achievements of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, and give the relationship solid theological underpinning but, more importantly, he filled it with meaning and with life,” the statement read.
12:30 pm
algemeiner I hope yoy have good life
wetshkanes
8:39 am
tya ne im wetskah seh vatican, ta washna seh ta terra,
ta ne impashka i im pa ne
YH
to vatican, my elder son is there
yoy don’t want to understand what
ta ne impashka i im pa ne
means
YH
2:51 pm
how it feels,,ta ne im pash nektash
to speak YH with elder son
SOn of Man
10:20 am
pope francis, petrus romanum, is afraid what is to come
son of man
12:27 pm
pope franciscus , if there were old poor woman, or a lepard , would jou shake her him?
aswanash alehim
10:29 am
pope franciscus you want to see me face to face, one day you will, but before that you must shake hands with simple persons like that old portuguese woman who carries fatimas picture, kiss her as pope do and she is happy, i sent her
she is true god’s children
aswanash alehim
11:34 am
Hatsheepsut maatkairi let jews to go freedom, when she were old she said to thuthmoses 3 that he must destroy her statues that he can role egypt
ta ne watshka seh nah ma nes
aswanash alehim
ta na
5:21 am
pope benedict is the only pope who will see ashwelon, the others are in hell
aswanash alehim
3:05 pm
ta na , eshkeshna´s seh YH,i know you don’t o my words but i speak to my father YH
aswanash alehim
1:22 pm
and to jews palestinians and arabs YH wantns to say
ta ne him washna nahs
12:44 pm
to pope benedict
when i go to my father ta YH 2029 i want to shake yoyr hand pope benedict and yoy see ashwelon,angel armyes
1:37 pm
im the elder son of YH, aswanash alehim,
i know you think i am some greasy ashhole, i want to connect hebrews, palestinians and arabs to make peace, they are all YH children
11:09 am
sa washna seh ashna, alehim . son of man ta terra
ashwanash alehim
ashwanake seh ashwelon
im elder son of YH ashwanash alehim
7:08 am
to jews and others who lost relatives in holocaust,
hitler and the others, they suffer the last day as the wictim, and when those miljons days are past, counter is zero and …
sa washna seh YH
4:55 pm
Mary Allen how is yoy doughter?
4:51 pm
iim neh washna seh ash
4:49 pm
pa netshka seh halem
IM
4:43 pm
why you loved the pope
4:39 pm
im ,sa waneshha seh YH
esh sa wa neshna
aswanash alehim
10:07 am
Why does Ronald Lauder feel the need to comment on everything? He has ZERO credibility as long as he remains silent on the scandal in Vienna regarding the innocent Schlesinger twins. Does he think it is acceptable to take children away from their mother for no valid reason?
7:24 pm
This was to happen with this Pope the next will be the last .We are moving right along to the coming of Messiah.
8:18 am
I LOVE THE POE VERY MUCH !!! HE REACHED OUT TO A LOT OF PEOPLE !!! HE WAS A UNIFIER NOT A PARTISAN DIVIDER !!!