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The Israeli publication *Haaretz *(April 5, 2005) reports that the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Shmuel Riccardo Di Segni, made a personal visit to San Pietro Plaza to recite Psalms for the health of Pope John Paul II. “The plaza, not the Church,” stressed Di Segni, who said that “after years of ghettoization and incitement, the Jews of Rome are naturally suspicious of the pope.” He believes that “the pope may have visited the synagogue, but the time is not yet ripe for the rabbi to visit the church.”
The Chief Rabbi was referring to the Pope’s historic 1986 visit to Rome’s main synagogue, during which he referred to the Jewish people as Catholics’ “elder brothers.” This phrase did not sit well with Di Segni, who described it as “ambivalent.” "In the sacred texts, both the Bible and the New Testament,” he says, “the elder brother was always the wicked brother, the one who lost the birthright, like Esau.” Therefore, according to Di Segni, “[The Pope] compared us to Esau, at a time when, in the dialect of the Jews of Rome, the word ‘Esau’ meant non-Jew. Thus this was no revolution.”
One of the leading Jewish intellectuals in Italy, Prof. Amos Luzzatto, also noted the 1986 papal visit to the Rome synagogue. “The only thing the Catholic Church did in the Jewish ghetto was to build a Catholic church,” he says, “where they gave sermons against Jews so that the Jews would convert. The pope’s visit to this synagogue was the antithesis of the [Church’s] treatment of the Jews.” Luzzatto also said that Pope John Paul’s apology for alleged crimes against the Jews was “not enough,” because the Pope “spoke of the Christians’ responsibility, not the Church’s responsibility."
In a Haaretz article titled “What can Israel expect after John Paul II?” (April 4, 2005), Vatican “expert” Dr. Itzhak Minerbi, of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Contemporary Judaism, is quoted as saying that all talk of Pope John Paul II’s sympathy for the Jews is “rubbish” and that any positive impression made by the Pope on Israelis and Jews “derives solely from ignorance." “These people are familiar with only one side,” says Minerbi, “the pleasant, smiling old fellow dressed in white. What does he say? It isn’t important. What does he believe in? It makes no difference. This pope did not make one iota of theological change.”
As for the eventual successor to Pope John Paul II and the future of the “process of rapprochement” between the Vatican and the Jewish people, Minerbi says: “It will be either worse or better. Right now, the conservative forces in the Vatican are forming a united front that is already trying to change things."
COMMENT: With each statement made by such men as Rabbi Di Segni, Prof. Luzzatto and Dr. Minerbi, the true nature of “interreligious dialogue” is made more and more manifest. The hatred of such men for the Catholic Church will never abate, and they will waste their lives ignoring the theological truths of Christ Crucified and Risen, while steering all “interfaith” discussions into veiled and not-so-veiled attacks against the Bride of Christ. Either that or the “holocaust”…take your pick.
Despite all his concessions to the Jewish people, concessions which scandalized the faithful and could never have been imagined in saner times, Pope John Paul remains an object of disappointment and vilification to the Di Segnis, Luzzattos and Minerbis of the world. They tell us that he never did enough. In fact, according to *Haaretz, *Dr. Minerbi became “enraged” when, at Auschwitz, the Pope spoke about 6 million “Poles” instead of “Jews.”…]
remnantnewspaper.com/news.htm
The Chief Rabbi was referring to the Pope’s historic 1986 visit to Rome’s main synagogue, during which he referred to the Jewish people as Catholics’ “elder brothers.” This phrase did not sit well with Di Segni, who described it as “ambivalent.” "In the sacred texts, both the Bible and the New Testament,” he says, “the elder brother was always the wicked brother, the one who lost the birthright, like Esau.” Therefore, according to Di Segni, “[The Pope] compared us to Esau, at a time when, in the dialect of the Jews of Rome, the word ‘Esau’ meant non-Jew. Thus this was no revolution.”
One of the leading Jewish intellectuals in Italy, Prof. Amos Luzzatto, also noted the 1986 papal visit to the Rome synagogue. “The only thing the Catholic Church did in the Jewish ghetto was to build a Catholic church,” he says, “where they gave sermons against Jews so that the Jews would convert. The pope’s visit to this synagogue was the antithesis of the [Church’s] treatment of the Jews.” Luzzatto also said that Pope John Paul’s apology for alleged crimes against the Jews was “not enough,” because the Pope “spoke of the Christians’ responsibility, not the Church’s responsibility."
In a Haaretz article titled “What can Israel expect after John Paul II?” (April 4, 2005), Vatican “expert” Dr. Itzhak Minerbi, of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Contemporary Judaism, is quoted as saying that all talk of Pope John Paul II’s sympathy for the Jews is “rubbish” and that any positive impression made by the Pope on Israelis and Jews “derives solely from ignorance." “These people are familiar with only one side,” says Minerbi, “the pleasant, smiling old fellow dressed in white. What does he say? It isn’t important. What does he believe in? It makes no difference. This pope did not make one iota of theological change.”
As for the eventual successor to Pope John Paul II and the future of the “process of rapprochement” between the Vatican and the Jewish people, Minerbi says: “It will be either worse or better. Right now, the conservative forces in the Vatican are forming a united front that is already trying to change things."
COMMENT: With each statement made by such men as Rabbi Di Segni, Prof. Luzzatto and Dr. Minerbi, the true nature of “interreligious dialogue” is made more and more manifest. The hatred of such men for the Catholic Church will never abate, and they will waste their lives ignoring the theological truths of Christ Crucified and Risen, while steering all “interfaith” discussions into veiled and not-so-veiled attacks against the Bride of Christ. Either that or the “holocaust”…take your pick.
Despite all his concessions to the Jewish people, concessions which scandalized the faithful and could never have been imagined in saner times, Pope John Paul remains an object of disappointment and vilification to the Di Segnis, Luzzattos and Minerbis of the world. They tell us that he never did enough. In fact, according to *Haaretz, *Dr. Minerbi became “enraged” when, at Auschwitz, the Pope spoke about 6 million “Poles” instead of “Jews.”…]
remnantnewspaper.com/news.htm