Iraqis hope papal visit can help unify country's diverse communities
- Mar 2, 2021
Declaring that the Church “isn’t afraid of history,” Pope Francis said Monday he has decided to open up the Vatican archives on World War II-era Pope Pius XII, who has been criticized by Jews of staying silent on the Holocaust.
The fruitful friendship and dialogue between Jews and Christians must go beyond the world of experts and academia, Pope Francis said.
A few decades of respectful Catholic-Jewish dialogue pale in comparison to “19 centuries of Christian anti-Judaism,” Pope Francis said, so Catholics must continue to ask forgiveness and forge new bonds of respect and friendship with the Jewish community.
Retired Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter correcting a German theologian who implied that the former pontiff encouraged the evangelization of the Jewish people as a mission.
Leaders from the Jewish and Catholic communities met at the Vatican this week to discuss what their communities can do to ensure the dignity and development of children, who are the future of society, but who are still too vulnerable to protect themselves.
Parishes throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh will take up a special collection for the three Jewish congregations that worship at the Tree of Life Synagogue, which was attacked by a gunman.