Pope Francis greeted about 30 Jews and Catholics from Italy and the Americas who took part a symposium on Christian-Jewish dialogue. Among the Jewish participants was the pope’s old friend from Buenos Aires, Rabbi Abraham Skorka. The four-day seminar, which concluded Thursday, was organized by the Focolare Movement, an international Christian organization promoting brotherhood, and…
Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis said on Wednesday in his latest urging that people of all religions – or no religion – work together. The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning Mass in his residence, a…
If you don’t follow Philologos, the Forward’s inimitable language columnist, you’re missing one of the outstanding intellectual joys in contemporary Jewish life. I don’t say that idly. Week after week for 20-plus years, with an astonishing combination of erudition, curiosity and wit, he’s used readers’ inquiries into the origins of words and phrases to explore…
A knot of about 100 people stood under a steely winter sky January 26 to plant a tree for Tu B’Shvat in the Paris suburb of Bussy-Saint-Georges. The town’s 120-family strong Jewish community was out in force for the celebration, which mirrored similar rites held around the world. Here, however, a few things stood out…
Pope Francis reached out on Thursday to Rome’s Jewish community, saying he hoped he would be able to contribute to furthering good relations between Catholics and Jews. The new pope sent a message to Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, inviting him to his inaugural Mass at the Vatican on March 19. “I sincerely hope…
Far be it from me, a Jew and a rabbi yet, to get involved in the internal decision making of the College of Cardinals as they ponder this most weighty decision of the election of a pope. But I do want to make a comment about the poignancy and power of names as well as…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked outgoing Pope Benedict on Monday for his efforts to shore up often troubled relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Jews, including with his 2009 visit to the Holy Land. That trip, in which the German-born Benedict paid respects at Israel’s main Holocaust memorial, was seen by many Jews…
The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI will symbolically bring to an end a remarkable period in Catholic-Jewish relations. Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, were personally involved in two 20th-century events that had a profound effect on this relationship — the Shoah and the Second Vatican Council. It is nearly certain that the…
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