You chose Abraham and his descendants
to bring your Name to the Nations:
we are deeply saddened
by the behavior of those
who in the course of history
have caused these children of your to suffer.
and asking your forgiveness
we wish to commit ourselves to
genuine brotherhood
with the people of the Covenant.

Jerusalemn 26, March, 2000

Signed: John Paul II

Posted on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007

Emulating pope who reached out to Jews

BERNARDO BENES (Artículo en Español)

Sometimes change comes from unexpected directions. I never thought my life would be so dramatically changed when my cousins, who live in North Carolina, sent me a small book. A Letter to a Jewish Friend covers the simple, yet extraordinary story of Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, and Jerzy Kluger, his Jewish boyhood friend in Wadowice, the small town in Poland where they were born.

John Paul II became one of my heroes as soon as I read it. He was the man mainly responsible for the reconciliation of Catholics and Jews.

Israel-Vatican Relations Established

By: 12th House - 12/20/93

As the home of three of the great world religions, it's hard to believe that it would be more than 40 years after the inception of the State of Israel for the Vatican to establish diplomatic relations. As a result of the Madrid Peace Conference and the beginning of the Arab-Israeli peace talks, the Vatican moved to being diplomatic relations with Israel. Read more.

No pope moved closer to Jews than John Paul II

By Richard P. McBrien - National Catholic Reporter - 04/29/94

When the history of this pontificate is written, Pope John Paul II's outreach to the Jews may be among his most enduring achievements.

The most recent papal initiative is of particular significance. Earlier this month, the pope invited Elio Toaff, the chief rabbi of Rome, to the Vatican as guest of honor at a concert given by the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to honor the memory of victims of the Holocaust. Read more.

Full Relations For Israelis And Vatican

By CLYDE HABERMAN, The New York Times, 06/16/94

Fulfilling a commitment made six months ago when they officially recognized each other, Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations today and said that they hoped they had put Jews and Roman Catholics farther along the path of reconciliation.

The creation of formal ties, announced at the same time in Jerusalem and the Vatican, still leaves a good deal of unfinished business, notably the legal and financial status of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. Two commissions were formed to handle those matters, and officials here said that they expect negotiations to take two years. Read more.

Papal Reckoning

By Eugene J. Fisher - The New York Times - 12/7/97

''The Pope's in a Confessional, and Jews Are Listening'' (Week in Review, Nov. 30), focusing as it does on the single word ''apology,'' may leave the impression that the Roman Catholic Church and Pope John Paul II have yet to begin ''an honest reckoning'' with regard to the Holocaust. Read more.

How Boyhood Friend Aided Pope With Israel

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN - The New York Times - 03/29/98

Jerzy Kluger says the first memory he shares with Karol Wojtyla, the man who is now Pope John Paul II, is of being chased around the square in their home town in Poland by an irate policeman. They were only 4 or 5 years old and had tried to pluck the policeman's sword from its sheath while he dozed on a bench. Read more.

Pope John Paul II and the Jews

By Eugene Fisher - 09/17/04

Jews in 1978 were not at all sure what to make of a Polish pope. Yet he has come, despite a number of difficult controversies over the years, to symbolize for them much of what is best in Christianity.

Pope John Paul II was the first pope to visit a death camp, Auschwitz, in 1979. Auschwitz is the symbolic center of Jewish remembrance of the Shoah (Holocaust). Read more.

La humanidad "se vistió de gala"

By Fernán González - BBC Spanish - 04/08/05

El funeral de Juan Pablo II que presencié en la Plaza de San Pedro en el Vaticano este 8 de abril tuvo dos caras.

Una, la solemne y ritual en torno al sencillo féretro del Pontífice, cerca de donde se sentaban monarcas, presidentes, primeros ministros y príncipes de la Iglesia. Fue la de la ceremonia de letanías arcanas en latín y plegarias en griego. Read more.

The Vatican and Israel

By Cardinal Achille Silvestrini - 12/21/04

It is not easy to discuss the theme of the relationship between Israel and the Vatican. On one hand, of course, it is an international, diplomatic relationship. On the other hand, the two parties are unique: the relationship between the two cannot be compared for instance to the relationship between France and Spain . We are talking of the Holy See, which is the expression of the highest authority of the Catholic Church (a religious reality). And we are also talking of the State of Israel: a state which at the international level is a state like any other, but which at the same time has a special character to the extent that its birth was connected with the return of the Jewish people to its ancestral land (again, a religious reality). Even only on the basis of the uniqueness of the two parties one may intuit the complexity of their relationship, of which the diplomatic relationship is the formal, conclusive act, but an act that was preceded by a long history. Read more.

The real hero in reconciling Christians and Jews

By David Rosen - www.haaretz.com - 05/04/2005

Forty years ago, during the papacy of Pope John XXIII, the Catholic Church determined that the attempt to present the Jewish people as rejected by God was false, and cleared the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus. Read more.

Pope John Paul II and the Jews

By Mitchell Bard - Jewish Virtual Library

John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in the Polish town of Wadowice, where he had Jewish friends and neighbors and was an eyewitness to the Holocaust. A few months before the war ended, Wojtyla rescued a starving 13-year-old Jewish girl at a train station by carrying her to the rail car in which he was traveling, feeding her and covering her with his coat. Later, he would affect even more Jewish lives. Read more.

Press coverage of Mass at Catholic Cathedral , Miami, Sept. 17th, 2006

Interfaith effort seeks support

By Bernardo Benes - Sun Sentinel, 09/25/06

On Sept. 17, Miami Archbishop John Favalora held a mass in St. Mary's Cathedral in celebration of Pope John Paul II as a champion of the reconciliation between Catholics and Jews. Before the mass, a special brochure was distributed to the parishioners. Read more.

Jews, Catholics join forces against anti-Semitism

By Ana Rodriguez-Soto - Florida Catholic - 09/28/06

“How often do you have a kosher lunch in the cathedral?”
With those words, retired banker Bernardo Benes summed up the significance of a Mass celebrated Sept. 17 at the Cathedral of St. Mary, and the luncheon that followed. Read more.

Se inaugura “Programa Antisemita Juan Pablo II”

By DIARIO LAS AMERICAS - Diario Las Americas - 09/18/2006

El pasado domingo se anunció una nueva colaboración entre hebreos y católicos con el lanzamiento de un programa educacional para reducir y eliminar el antisemitismo. Read more.

Press coverage of Visit of Archbishop Favalora to Temple Emanu El, Miami Beach, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Synagogue in Rome.

Building bridges: Program seeks to forge ties between Catholics and Jews

By Alexandra Alter - Miami Herald - 01/06/07

More than 20 years after Pope John Paul II became the first Roman Catholic pontiff to visit a synagogue, South Florida Catholic and Jewish leaders are working to bridge a lingering divide between the two communities. Read more.

Arzobispo de Miami visita sinagoga en Miami Beach

By Vivian Crucet - Diario Las Americas-01/18/07

Para celebrar la primera vez que un Papa visitara una sinagoga- esto ocurrió hace 20 años cuando el Papa Juan Pablo II visitó la Sinagoga de Roma- se conmemoró un acto ecuménico en el Templo Emanu El de Miami Beach este miércoles en la noche con la participación del Arzobispo de Miami, John Clement Favarola, el Rabino Kliel Rose, del propio Templo y prelado de religiones diferentes, incluyendo la musulmana. Read more.

Many faiths preach one message

By Alexandra Alter - Miami Herald - 01/18/07

A Muslim imam, the archbishop of Miami, a rabbi and a Protestant minister met at a Miami Beach synagogue Wednesday night to talk about a religious figure who inspired them all: Pope John Paul II. Read more.

Una celebración de tolerancia religiosa en Miami

By Daniel Shoer Roth - El Nuevo Herald - 01/18/07

En una visita histórica que realizó el papa Juan Pablo II a la Gran Sinagoga de Roma en 1986, la primera de un líder de la Iglesia a un santuario judío, el Sumo Pontífice acentuó los lazos indelebles entre el cristianismo y el judaísmo: "Ustedes [los judíos] son nuestros amados hermanos y, de cierta forma, podría decirse que son nuestros hermanos mayores''. Read more.

Religious faiths gather to overcome 'bigotry'

Announcement - Florida Catholic - 01/10/07

To mark the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's historic visit to a Rome synagogue, Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders will come together Jan. 17 at Miami Beach's Temple Emanu El for a program of interfaith discussion aimed at building closer ties and mutual understanding between the various faith groups in south Florida. Read more.

Después de la visita

By Jorge Lezcano - el Nuevo Herald - 01/23/07

Hace 20 años y por primera vez en la vida de cualquier Papa, Juan Pablo II visitaba una sinagoga en Roma. Ahora aquí, en una cálida noche de Miami Beach, se reunía un diverso grupo del sur de la Florida en el Templo Emanu-El, cuyo nombre en español significa Dios con nosotros, para celebrar el aniversario histórico de esa visita papal. Read more.

Las culpas de Benes

By Alejandro Armengol, El Nuevo Herald, 08/13/07.

Es ''culpable'' de lograr la liberación de 3,600 presos políticos en Cuba, intentar un entendimiento entre Washington y La Habana, contribuir decisivamente a un cambio total en el perfil de la comunidad exiliada en Miami y la creación de diversas instituciones --algunas con mejor suerte que otras-- de ayuda y entendimiento entre cubanos, norteamericanos, latinoamericanos, judíos y cristianos. Por estos ''delitos'' ha sufrido humillaciones, ostracismo y ataques de diversa naturaleza. Nadie ejemplifica mejor que él una importante época en esta ciudad. Es historia, política y humanismo. No se puede hablar de lo mejor y lo peor del exilio histórico, sin mencionar al abogado y ex banquero Bernardo Benes. Read more.

Various Documents

DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS NOSTRA AETATE

PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON OCTOBER 28, 1965

1. In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely he relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship. Read more.

MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II TO THE CHIEF RABBI OF ROME DR RICCARDO DI SEGNI FOR THE CENTENARY OF THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF ROME

To the most distinguished Dr Riccardo Di Segni
Chief Rabbi of Rome
Shalom!

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
Hinneh ma tov u-ma na"im, shevet akhim gam yakhad!" (Ps 133 [132]: 1).

1. With deep joy I join the Jewish Community of Rome which is celebrating the centenary of the Great Synagogue of Rome, a symbol and a reminder of the millennial presence in this city of the people of the Covenant of Sinai. For more than 2,000 years your community has been an integral part of life in the city; it can boast of being the most ancient Jewish Community in Western Europe and of having played an important role in spreading Judaism on this Continent. Today's commemoration, therefore, acquires a special significance for religious, cultural and social life in the capital and cannot but have a very special resonance in the heart of the Bishop of Rome! Since I am unable to attend in person, I have asked my Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to represent me; he is accompanied by Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Holy See's Commission for Relations with the Jews. They formally express my desire to be with you on this day.

Fundamental Agreement Between the Holy See and the State of Israel

(December 30, 1993)

Preamble

The Holy See and the State of Israel,

Mindful of the singular character and universal significance of the Holy Land;

Aware of the unique nature of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people, and of the historic process of reconciliation and growth in mutual understanding and friendship between Catholics and Jews;

Having decided on 29 July 1992 to establish a 'Bilateral Permanent Working Commission', in order to study and define together issues of common interest, and in view of normalizing their relations;

Recognizing that the work of the aforementioned Commission has produced sufficient material for a first and Fundamental Agreement;

Realizing that such Agreement will provide a sound and lasting basis for the continued development of their present and future relations and for the furtherance of the Commission's task,

Agree upon the following Articles: Read more.

Press Room

Press room sections:

POPE JOHN PAUL II. JEWISH PERSPECTIVE Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal America article on Cardinal Keeler

POPE JOHN PAUL II VISITS THE WESTERN WALL

Press coverage of Mass at Catholic Cathedral , Miami, Sept. 17th, 2006

Press coverage of Visit of Archbishop Favalora to Temple Emanu El, Miami Beach, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Synagogue in Rome.

Various Documents

Preamble

The Holy See and the State of Israel,

POPE JOHN PAUL II. JEWISH PERSPECTIVE
Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal

America article on Cardinal Keeler