Pope John Paul II’s trip to the Holy Land and statements concerning past abuses committed by the Roman Catholic Church were not without controversy. His support for the Palestinians frustrated some Israelis, who noted the many decades it took for the Vatican to recognize the state of Israel. Also, the pontiff’s carefully worded statements of “sadness” for historic atrocities like the Crusades and the Holocaust struck many as too vague to have meaning.
But local Jewish leaders reacted very favorably to the pope’s visit and statements, saying that the 79-year-old leader of the Catholic Church was reaching out in a way that could lead to mending the historically strained relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people.
Marcia Goldstone, executive director of the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council, says the pope’s visit to the Holy Land was another important stage in what she says is a dramatic improvement in Catholic-Jewish relations over the past 30 years. Goldstone noted that during the last papal visit to the Holy Land, by Pope Paul VII in 1964, the pope did not mention Israel by name and would not address the Israeli president by his title.
“There are going to be people on both sides saying this pope has gone too far or not far enough,” said Goldstone. “But this pope has reached out to non-Catholics like no other. I think it has been quite spectacular.”
The pope concluded his visit by placing a note in the Western Wall, arguably the holiest site in all Judaism, where Jewish visitors customarily tuck messages to God in the crevices. The note repeated a prayer the pope offered earlier this month in Rome, which read in part, “We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer. And asking your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the covenant.”
Some critics decried the statement as too timid in not directly accepting the official Catholic role in historic abuses, especially the silence of Pope Paul XII during the Holocaust. Wire service reports quoted Efraim Zuroff, head of the Israeli office of the Simon Weisenthal Center, saying the pope “shirked responsibility for the teachings of the Catholic Church, which helped create the conditions which led to the Holocaust.”
But Rabbi Dennis Sasso of Indianapolis’ Congregation Beth-El Zedek says that the pope’s statement, taken in context of his earlier proclamations, was indeed a call for repentance by the Church and its people. “Of course, there is always a desire for more. Like any relationship, it is built through a series of discreet steps,” says Rabbi Sasso. “For too long, the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people was based on making theology through accusation. This is a start at making theology through confession.
“As a rabbi, I would see this as a t’shuvah, an act of repentance.”
fquigley@nuvo.net
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