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Pope Benedict XVI- Apostolic Journey to the Holy Land |
"Our Two Communities Are Challenged to Engage People of Good Will at
the Level of Reason"
Address
Upon Visit to the Grand Rabbinate
H.H. Benedict XVI
"Hechal Shlomo" Center, seat of the Grand Rabbinate, Jerusalem
May 12, 2009
Distinguished Rabbis,
Dear Friends,
I am grateful for the invitation to visit Heichal Shlomo and to meet
with you during this trip of mine to the Holy Land as Bishop of
Rome. I thank Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona
Metzger for their warm words of welcome and the desire they have
expressed to continue strengthening the bonds of friendship which
the Catholic Church and the Chief Rabbinate have labored so
diligently to forge over the past decades. Your visits to the
Vatican in 2003 and 2005 are a sign of the good will which
characterizes our developing relations.
Distinguished Rabbis, I reciprocate by expressing my own respect and
esteem for you and your communities. I assure you of my desire to
deepen mutual understanding and cooperation between the Holy See,
the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Jewish people throughout the
world.
A great source of satisfaction for me since the beginning of my
pontificate has been the fruit yielded by the ongoing dialogue
between the Delegation of the Holy See's Commission for Religious
Relations with the Jews and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's
Delegation for Relations with the Catholic Church. I wish to thank
the members of both delegations for their dedication and hard work
in implementing this initiative, so earnestly desired by my esteemed
predecessor Pope John Paul II, as he said during the Great Jubilee
Year of 2000.
Our encounter today is a most fitting occasion to give thanks to the
Almighty for the many blessings which have accompanied the dialogue
conducted by the Bilateral Commission, and to look forward with
expectation to its future sessions. The willingness of the delegates
to discuss openly and patiently not only points of agreement, but
also points of difference, has already paved the way to more
effective collaboration in public life. Jews and Christians alike
are concerned to ensure respect for the sacredness of human life,
the centrality of the family, a sound education for the young, and
the freedom of religion and conscience for a healthy society. These
themes of dialogue represent only the initial phases of what we
trust will be a steady, progressive journey towards an enhanced
mutual understanding.
An indication of the potential of this series of meetings is readily
seen in our shared concern in the face of moral relativism and the
offences it spawns against the dignity of the human person. In
approaching the most urgent ethical questions of our day, our two
communities are challenged to engage people of good will at the
level of reason, while simultaneously pointing to the religious
foundations which best sustain lasting moral values. May the
dialogue that has begun continue to generate ideas on how Christians
and Jews can work together to heighten society's appreciation of the
distinctive contribution of our religious and ethical traditions.
Here in Israel, given that Christians constitute only a small
portion of the total population, they particularly value
opportunities for dialogue with their Jewish neighbors.
Trust is undeniably an essential element of effective dialogue.
Today I have the opportunity to repeat that the Catholic Church is
irrevocably committed to the path chosen at the Second Vatican
Council for a genuine and lasting reconciliation between Christians
and Jews. As the Declaration Nostra Aetate makes clear, the Church
continues to value the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and
Jews and desires an ever deeper mutual understanding and respect
through biblical and theological studies as well as fraternal
dialogues. May the seven Bilateral Commission meetings which have
already taken place between the Holy See and the Chief Rabbinate
stand as evidence! I am thus grateful for your reciprocal assurance
that the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Chief
Rabbinate will continue to grow in respect and understanding in the
future.
My friends, I express again my deep appreciation for the welcome you
have extended to me today. I am confident that our friendship will
continue to set an example of trust in dialogue for Jews and
Christians throughout the world. Looking at the accomplishments
achieved thus far, and drawing our inspiration from the Holy
Scriptures, we can confidently look forward to even stronger
cooperation between our communities -- together with all people of
good will -- in decrying hatred and oppression throughout the world.
I pray that God, who searches our hearts and knows our thoughts (Ps
139:23), will continue to enlighten us with his wisdom, so that we
may follow his commandments to love him with all our heart, soul and
strength (cf. Dt 6:5), and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev
19:18). Thank you.
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