Pope Benedict Meets With Jews in Germany

By JTA September 22, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI met with leaders of Germany?s Jewish community while on a visit to his homeland.

Benedict, who arrived Thursday in Berlin to visit his native Germany for the third time since becoming pope, met the Jewish leaders in a closed-door meeting in the Reichstag after addressing the German parliament. The meeting lasted about 25 minutes.

Benedict was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a teenager. He has come under fire from the Jewish community for his work to beatify Pope Pius XII, the wartime pope who many accuse of not defending the Jews against the Nazis.

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