“Even today, unfortunately, anti-Semitic attitudes are still present. As I have said many times, a Christian cannot be anti-Semitic”. The Pope reiterated this with the rabbis of the “World Congress of Mountain Jews” of the Caucasus. Francis recalled the commemoration of the Holocaust that he had recently celebrated in Vilnius, Lithuania, as well as the anniversary of the raid of the Ghetto of Rome (October 16) and the Nazi “Night of Broken Glass” (November 9), stressing that “without a living memory there will be no future because, if we do not learn from the blackest pages of history not to fall into the same errors, human dignity will remain a dead letter”.
“The last time I met a Jewish community was in Lithuania on September 23rd,” Jorge Mario Bergoglio recalled: “It was a day dedicated to the commemoration of the Shoah, seventy-five years after the destruction of the Vilnius ghetto and the killing of thousands of Jews. I prayed in front of the monument of the victims of the Holocaust and asked the Highest to console his people. “It is necessary - the Pope said - to commemorate the Holocaust, so that a living memory of the past is preserved. Without a living memory, there will be no future because, if we don’t learn from the blackest pages of history not to fall back into the same errors, human dignity will remain a dead letter”.
“Thinking of the Shoah”, the Pope still commemorates “two tragic events”: “On 16 October last there was another dramatic seventy-fifth anniversary: that of the raid of the ghetto of Rome. And in a few days, on 9 November, it will be 80 years after the so-called Kristallnacht (”Night of Broken Glass”), when many Jewish places of worship were destroyed, with the intention of eradicating what is absolutely inviolable in the heart of humankind and of a people: the presence of the Creator. When there was the willingness to replace the Good Lord with the idolatry of power and the ideology of hatred, we came to the madness of exterminating creatures”.
“Therefore, religious freedom is a supreme good to be protected, a fundamental human right, a bulwark against totalitarian claims”.
“Even today, unfortunately, there are still anti-Semitic attitudes”, Francis pointed out, who during last week’s Angelus prayer, condemned the attack on the synagogue of Pittsburgh, in the United States, invoking God to “help us to extinguish the hotbeds of hatred that are developing in our societies, strengthening the sense of humanity, respect for life, moral and civil values, and the holy fear of God, who is the love and Father of all”.
“As I have said many times, a Christian cannot be anti-Semitic. Our roots are common. It would be a contradiction in faith and life. Together we are instead called to commit ourselves so that anti-Semitism is banned from the human community”.
The Pope reiterated “the importance of friendship between Jews and Catholics. Founded on a fraternity rooted in the history of salvation, it takes the form of mutual attention. With you I would like to praise the Giver of all good for the gift of our friendship, impetus and engine of dialogue between us. It is a dialogue that in this time we are called to promote and broaden at the interreligious level, for the good of humanity”.
With rabbis from the Persian Jewish community today, as well as in the Caucasus, Russia, Germany, the United States and other countries, the Pope finally recalled “the beautiful interreligious meeting two years ago in Azerbaijan, where I noticed the harmony that religions can create “starting from personal relationships and the good will of those in charge”. This is the way. “Dialogue with others and prayer for all: these are our means of turning spears into sickles, of raising love where there is hatred and forgiveness where there is wrongdoing, so as not to tire of imploring and following paths of peace”. Yes, because today “it is not the time for violent and abrupt solutions, but the urgent time to undertake patient processes of reconciliation”. It is a fundamental task to which we are called. I ask the Almighty to bless our path of friendship and trust - the Pope concluded - so that we always live in peace and, wherever we are, we can be artisans and builders of peace. Shalom alechem!”.
The rabbis of the “World Congress of Mountain Jews” gave the Pope his first monographic work on the history and traditions of their community and asked for his blessing for the project of a “congress of monotheistic religions”, explaining that the Pontiff is “recognized as a leader by countless authorities and respected by the followers of many religions” and stressing that, in the Middle East as well as in the rest of the world, and despite conflicts of an ethnic and non-religious nature, it is possible for Jews, Muslims and Christians “to live together in unity and friendship” in “peace and fraternity”.
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