The new head of the Vatican agency responsible for relations with Jews, Cardinal Kurt Koch, told an audience gathered at Seton Hall University in New Jersey on Oct. 30 that many Jews approve of the potential canonization of Pope Pius XII; that the long-demanded opening of the Vatican’s Holocaust-era archives would not shed more light on Pius’s Nazi-era actions; and that Jews can look upon the cross as “the definitive Yom Kippur.” The statements were met with either blank expressions or grumbling from the audience of about 60 rabbis, priests, theologians and specialists in interfaith dialogue. Rabbi Eric Greenberg, director of interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, said the cardinal’s opinions raised issues that demonstrate “the continuing challenges facing Catholic-Jewish relations.”
Bumpy Start for New Liaison to Jews
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
“Pope Francis is the pope of the people,” Rosa de los Ríos told America in Spanish before the funeral Mass. “He is very close to the people.... That’s why he was so loved. People felt he was very close to them.”
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met inside St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of the funeral for Pope Francis on the morning of April 26.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily for the funeral of Pope Francis.
The day before he died, Pope Francis made one final circuit through St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile. “That’s my last image of him alive,” Gerry O’Connell remembered. “He drove among the people.”