Latin America Leaders Jet Into Israel Ahead of Pope Francis
Image by getty images
Jewish and Catholic religious leaders from six Latin American countries will make a pilgrimage to the Middle East following the route that Pope Francis will take on his upcoming visit to the region.
Young priests and rabbis from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela will share a seminar and visits to holy sites on the pilgrimage, which begins Wednesday. The pope will visit the region later this month.
“This is the third time we have held a seminar like this, with about 30 religious leaders from the region, but this time it has a special addition because it is being performed just few days before the arrival of the pope to the Middle East, so we will experience the atmosphere that Francis will feel upon his arrival in Israel,” Latin American Jewish Congress President Jack Terpins said.
The trip is being held in conjunction with the Israel-based Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation.
The program will include lectures and courses with experts on both faiths, and visits to holy sites in a historical context.
“If we can establish firm understanding between Jews and Catholics, we will leave our children a more fraternal world from which we received,” Terpins said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
