Dear Chief Rabbi of
the Jewish Community of Rome,
President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities,
President of the Jewish Community of Rome,
Rabbis,
Distinguished Authorities,
Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
1. At the beginning of this encounter in the Great Synagogue of
the Jews of Rome, the Psalms which we have heard suggest to us
the right spiritual attitude in which to experience this
particular and happy moment of grace: the praise of the Lord,
who has worked marvels for us and has gathered us in his Hèsed,
his merciful love, and thanksgiving to him for granting us this
opportunity to come together to strengthen the bonds which unite
us and to continue to travel together along the path of
reconciliation and fraternity. I wish to express first of all my
sincere gratitude to you, Chief Rabbi, Doctor Riccardo Di Segni,
for your invitation and for the thoughtful words which you have
addressed to me. I wish to thank also the President of the Union
of Italian Jewish Communities, Mr Renzo Gattegna, and the
President of the Jewish Community of Rome, Mr Riccardo Pacifici,
for their courteous greetings. My thoughts go to the Authorities
and to all present, and they extend in a special way, to the
entire Jewish Community of Rome and to all who have worked to
bring about this moment of encounter and friendship which we now
share.
When he came among you for the first time, as a Christian and as
Pope, my Venerable Predecessor John Paul II, almost 24 years
ago, wanted to make a decisive contribution to strengthening the
good relations between our two communities, so as to overcome
every misconception and prejudice. My visit forms a part of the
journey already begun, to confirm and deepen it. With sentiments
of heartfelt appreciation, I come among you to express to you
the esteem and the affection which the Bishop and the Church of
Rome, as well as the entire Catholic Church, have towards this
Community and all Jewish communities around the world.
2. The teaching of the Second Vatican Council has represented
for Catholics a clear landmark to which constant reference is
made in our attitude and our relations with the Jewish people,
marking a new and significant stage. The Council gave a strong
impetus to our irrevocable commitment to pursue the path of
dialogue, fraternity and friendship, a journey which has been
deepened and developed in the last forty years, through
important steps and significant gestures. Among them, I should
mention once again the historic visit by my Venerable
Predecessor to this Synagogue on 13 April 1986, the numerous
meetings he had with Jewish representatives, both here in Rome
and during his Apostolic Visits throughout the world, the
Jubilee Pilgrimage which he made to the Holy Land in the year
2000, the various documents of the Holy See which, following the
Second Vatican Council's Declaration Nostra Aetate, have made
helpful contributions to the increasingly close relations
between Catholics and Jews. I too, in the course of my
Pontificate, have wanted to demonstrate my closeness to and my
affection for the people of the Covenant. I cherish in my heart
each moment of the pilgrimage that I had the joy of making to
the Holy Land in May of last year, along with the memories of
numerous meetings with Jewish Communities and Organizations, in
particular my visits to the Synagogues of Cologne and New York.
Furthermore, the Church has not failed to deplore the failings
of her sons and daughters, begging forgiveness for all that
could in any way have contributed to the scourge of
anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism (cf. Commission for Religious
Relations with the Jews,We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah,
16 March 1998). May these wounds be healed forever! The
heartfelt prayer which Pope John Paul II offered at the Western
Wall on 26 March 2000 comes back to my mind, and it calls forth
a profound echo in our hearts: "God of our Fathers, you chose
Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the nations:
we are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the
course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer,
and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to
genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant."
3. The passage of time allows us to recognize in the Twentieth
Century a truly tragic period for humanity: ferocious wars that
sowed destruction, death and suffering like never before;
frightening ideologies, rooted in the idolatry of man, of race,
and of the State, which led to brother killing brother. The
singular and deeply disturbing drama of the Shoah represents, as
it were, the most extreme point on the path of hatred that
begins when man forgets his Creator and places himself at the
centre of the universe. As I noted during my visit of 28 May
2006 to the Auschwitz Concentration camp, which is still
profoundly impressed upon my memory, "the rulers of the Third
Reich wanted to crush the entire Jewish people", and,
essentially, "by wiping out this people, they intended to kill
the God who called Abraham, who spoke on Sinai and laid down
principles to serve as a guide for mankind, principles that
remain eternally valid" (Discourse at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Concentration Camp: The Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, II, 1
[2006], p.727).
Here in this place, how could we not remember the Roman Jews who
were snatched from their homes, before these very walls, and who
with tremendous brutality were killed at Auschwitz? How could
one ever forget their faces, their names, their tears, the
desperation faced by these men, women and children? The
extermination of the people of the Covenant of Moses, at first
announced, then systematically programmed and put into practice
in Europe under the Nazi regime, on that day tragically reached
as far as Rome. Unfortunately, many remained indifferent, but
many, including Italian Catholics, sustained by their faith and
by Christian teaching, reacted with courage, often at risk of
their lives, opening their arms to assist the Jewish fugitives
who were being hunted down, and earning perennial gratitude. The
Apostolic See itself provided assistance, often in a hidden and
discreet way.
The memory of these events compels us to strengthen the bonds
that unite us so that our mutual understanding, respect and
acceptance may always increase.
4. Our closeness and spiritual fraternity find in the Holy Bible
- in Hebrew Sifre Qodesh or "Book of Holiness" - their most
stable and lasting foundation, which constantly reminds us of
our common roots, our history and the rich spiritual patrimony
that we share. It is in pondering her own mystery that the
Church, the People of God of the New Covenant, discovers her own
profound bond with the Jews, who were chosen by the Lord before
all others to receive his word (cf. Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 839). "The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian
religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old
Covenant. To the Jews ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
to them belong the patriarchs and of their race, according to
the flesh is the Christ' (Rom 9:4-5), ‘for the gifts and the
call of God are irrevocable!' (Rom 11:29)" (Ibid).
5. Many lessons may be learnt from our common heritage derived
from the Law and the Prophets. I would like to recall some of
them: first of all, the solidarity which binds the Church to the
Jewish people "at the level of their spiritual identity", which
offers Christians the opportunity to promote "a renewed respect
for the Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament" (cf.
Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish people and their
Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, 2001, pp.12 and 55);
the centrality of the Decalogue as a common ethical message of
permanent value for Israel, for the Church, for non-believers
and for all of humanity; the task of preparing or ushering in
the Kingdom of the Most High in the "care for creation"
entrusted by God to man for him to cultivate and to care for
responsibly (cf. Gen 2:15).
6. In particular, the Decalogue - the "Ten Words" or Ten
Commandments (cf. Ex 20:1-17; Dt 5:1-21) - which comes from the
Torah of Moses, is a shining light for ethical principles, hope
and dialogue, a guiding star of faith and morals for the people
of God, and it also enlightens and guides the path of
Christians. It constitutes a beacon and a norm of life in
justice and love, a "great ethical code" for all humanity. The
"Ten Commandments" shed light on good and evil, on truth and
falsehood, on justice and injustice, and they match the criteria
of every human person's right conscience. Jesus himself recalled
this frequently, underlining the need for active commitment in
living the way of the Commandments: "If you wish to enter into
life, observe the Commandments" (Mt 19:17). From this
perspective, there are several possible areas of cooperation and
witness. I would like to recall three that are especially
important for our time.
The "Ten Commandments" require that we recognize the one Lord,
against the temptation to construct other idols, to make golden
calves. In our world there are many who do not know God or who
consider him superfluous, without relevance for their lives;
hence, other new gods have been fabricated to whom man bows
down. Reawakening in our society openness to the transcendent
dimension, witnessing to the one God, is a precious service
which Jews and Christians can offer together.
The "Ten Commandments" call us to respect life and to protect it
against every injustice and abuse, recognizing the worth of each
human person, created in the image and likeness of God. How
often, in every part of the world, near and far, the dignity,
the freedom and the rights of human beings are trampled upon!
Bearing witness together to the supreme value of life against
all selfishness, is an important contribution to a new world
where justice and peace reign, a world marked by that "shalom"
which the lawgivers, the prophets and the sages of Israel longed
to see.
The "Ten Commandments" call us to preserve and to promote the
sanctity of the family, in which the personal and reciprocal,
faithful and definitive "Yes" of man and woman makes room for
the future, for the authentic humanity of each, and makes them
open, at the same time, to the gift of new life. To witness that
the family continues to be the essential cell of society and the
basic environment in which human virtues are learned and
practised is a precious service offered in the construction of a
world with a more human face.
7. As Moses taught in the Shema (cf. Dt 6:5; Lev 19:34) - and as
Jesus reaffirms in the Gospel (cf. Mk 12:19-31), all of the
Commandments are summed up in the love of God and
loving-kindness towards one's neighbour. This Rule urges Jews
and Christians to exercise, in our time, a special generosity
towards the poor, towards women and children, strangers, the
sick, the weak and the needy. In the Jewish tradition there is a
wonderful saying of the Fathers of Israel: "Simon the Just often
said: The world is founded on three things: the Torah, worship,
and acts of mercy" (Avoth 1:2). In exercising justice and mercy,
Jews and Christians are called to announce and to bear witness
to the coming Kingdom of the Most High, for which we pray and
work in hope each day.
8. On this path we can walk together, aware of the differences
that exist between us, but also aware of the fact that when we
succeed in uniting our hearts and our hands in response to the
Lord's call, his light comes closer and shines on all the
peoples of the world. The progress made in the last forty years
by the International Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations
and, in more recent years, by the Mixed Commission of the Chief
Rabbinate of Israel and of the Holy See, are a sign of our
common will to continue an open and sincere dialogue. Tomorrow
here in Rome, in fact, the Mixed Commission will hold its ninth
meeting, on "Catholic and Jewish Teaching on Creation and the
Environment"; we wish them a profitable dialogue on such a
timely and important theme.
9. Christians and Jews share to a great extent a common
spiritual patrimony, they pray to the same Lord, they have the
same roots, and yet they often remain unknown to each other. It
is our duty, in response to God's call, to strive to keep open
the space for dialogue, for reciprocal respect, for growth in
friendship, for a common witness in the face of the challenges
of our time, which invite us to cooperate for the good of
humanity in this world created by God, the Omnipotent and
Merciful.
10. Finally, I offer a particular reflection on this, our city
of Rome, where, for nearly two millennia, as Pope John Paul II
said, the Catholic Community with its Bishop and the Jewish
Community with its Chief Rabbi have lived side by side. May this
proximity be animated by a growing fraternal love, expressed
also in closer cooperation, so that we may offer a valid
contribution to solving the problems and difficulties that we
still face.
I beg from the Lord the precious gift of peace in the world,
above all in the Holy Land. During my pilgrimage there last May,
at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, I prayed to Him who can do all
things, asking: "Send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the
Middle East, upon the entire human family; stir the hearts of
those who call upon your name, to walk humbly in the path of
justice and compassion" (Prayer at the Western Wall of
Jerusalem, 12 May 2009).
I give thanks and praise to God once again for this encounter,
asking him to strengthen our fraternal bonds and to deepen our
mutual understanding.
"O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him, all you peoples.
Strong is his love for us,
He is faithful forever.
Alleluia" (Ps 117)
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