Pope to renegades: Respect Judaism, other religions

ROME (JTA) -- Respect for Judaism and other religions is mandatory for readmission into the mainstream Catholic fold, Pope Benedict XVI will tell a renegade traditionalist Catholic group.

In a weekend interview with a newspaper in Passau, Germany, Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said doctrinal talks between the Vatican and the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X would begin soon.

"The SSPX will be told very clearly what is not negotiable for the Holy See," Schoenborn said. "This includes such fundamental conclusions of the Second Vatican Council as its positions on Judaism, other non-Christian religions, other Christian churches and on religious freedom as a basic human right."

Led by its founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the SSPX broke with the Vatican over the reforms of the Vatican II conference, which among other things lifted anti-Jewish dogma and opened the way to Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

Lefebvre and his followers were excommunicated in 1988. continues here

Pontiff calls for regional peace, vows to fight anti-Semitism

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel on Monday, starting a historical five-day, emotion-laden pilgrimage by calling for peace, an end to anti-Semitism, and freedom of worship and understanding between religions.

"Thank you for your warm welcome to Israel, a land which is holy to millions," Benedict said. "I appreciate the opportunity to come here."

"I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace - peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world," the pope continued, adding that although the name Jerusalem meant "city of peace," it is all too evident that peace has eluded the region.

The pope vowed to battle rising anti-Semitism, and spoke about his upcoming visit to Yad Vashem later in the day.

"Tragically, the Jewish people have experienced the terrible consequences of ideologies that deny the fundamental dignity of every human person," he said. "It is right and fitting that, during my stay in Israel, I will have the opportunity to honor the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah, and to pray that humanity will never again witness a crime of such magnitude."

"Sadly, anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is totally unacceptable," the pope continued. "Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found, and to promote respect and esteem for the members of every people, tribe, language and nation across the globe."




Turning to politics, the pontiff urged both Israelis and Palestinians to find a solution which will allow each side to live peacefully together.

"The eyes of the world are upon the peoples of this region as they struggle to achieve a just and lasting solution to conflicts that have caused so much suffering," he said. "The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"In union with people of good will everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognized borders," the pope said. "In this regard, I hope and pray that a climate of greater trust can soon be created that will enable the parties to make real progress along the road to peace and stability."

Upon arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport, the pontiff was greeted by President Shimon Peres in a red-carpet reception. Peres warmly welcomed Benedict as "first among the faithful," and voiced hope that his presence would help foster peace in the region.

"Your Holiness the Pope, Benedict XVI, in the name of the State of Israel I welcome you and offer you a blessing on your arrival: peace," Peres said in Hebrew. Then, switching to Latin, added, "Hail Benedictus, first among the faithful, who visits the Holy Land today."

"I see your visit here, to the Holy Land, as an important spiritual mission of the highest order: a mission of peace," the president continued. "A mission of planting seeds of tolerance and uprooting the weeds of fanaticism. I appreciate your stances and your actions to bring down the level of violence and hatred in the world."

The Pope's trip comes amid lingering suspicions among Jews and Muslims over past actions and remarks by the Catholic spiritual leader. In his greetings, Peres alluded to that rift.

"I am certain that this will be a continuation of the dialogue between Judaism and Christianity in the spirit of the Prophets," he said. "Israel safeguards the absolute freedom of religious practice and free access to holy places. We are always happy to receive pilgrims from throughout the world in the Holy Land."

"We have made peace with Egypt and Jordan, and we are in negotiations to make peace with the Palestinians, and even to arrive at a comprehensive regional peace," the president continued. "Your visit here brings a blessed understanding between religions and spreads peace near and far. Historic Israel and the renewed Israel together welcome your arrival as paving the great road to peace from city to city."

The pope, who heads an official delegation of 40 representatives from the Vatican, will officially be hosted by Peres during his visit to Israel, as well as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and senior government leaders.

Following the ceremony at the airport, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Jerusalem by helicopter, where he met with Mayor Nir Barkat upon his arrival in the capital.

In his packed first day here, the pope will meet with Peres at his official residence, then visit the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, and hold an evening meeting with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders before retiring for the evening at the Papal Nuncio's residence in Jerusalem.

The visit to Yad Vashem has taken on added emotional significance and is expected to be closely watched, both because of the pope's recent controversial decision to revoke the excommunication of a bishop who denies the Holocaust, which sparked Jewish outrage, as well as over an ongoing dispute over the role of the wartime pope, Pius XII, during the Holocaust.

The papal tour will include a visit to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall on Tuesday, a visit to Bethlehem on Wednesday, and a day-long trip to Nazareth on Thursday, before he heads back to Rome on a special El Al flight Friday afternoon.

The trip will be the second official visit by a pope to Israel, following Pope John Paul II's historic visit in 2000. continues here

Holocaust still an issue as Pope Benedict prepares to visit the Holy Land

• Many Israelis still angry over Vatican's war record
• Palestinians hoping for support for independence

Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is housed within an angular concrete corridor that leads visitors through appalling stories of persecution, suffering and death and out eventually to a calming view over the Jerusalem forests.

Halfway down the corridor in a room on the left are two black and white ­photographs of the wartime pope, Pius XII, with a few lines of text in English and Hebrew. It is one of hundreds of displays in the museum and easily overlooked, but it runs to the heart of Israel's often troubled relationship with the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI makes an official visit to the Holy Land next week and will attend Yad Vashem on Monday to lay a wreath, but he will not visit the museum or see the caption. The wording set off a diplomatic spat two years ago when the papal envoy to Jerusalem threatened to skip Israel's Holocaust day service and it remains contentious, symbolic of the troubled history between the Catholic church and the Jewish people.

For some, Pius XII was little more than "Hitler's pope" and the caption at Yad Vashem is accusatory. It claims Pius "shelved" a letter against racism and antisemitism prepared by his predecessor and says that when the Vatican received news of the murder of Jews "the pope did not protest either verbally or in writing".

In December 1942 he "abstained" from signing an allied declaration against the extermination of Jews, and when Jews were deported from Rome to Auschwitz "he did not intervene". "His silence and the absence of guidelines obliged churchmen throughout Europe to decide on their own how to react," it says.

Israeli academics, including researchers at Yad Vashem itself, have pressed the Vatican to open its wartime archives and shed light on documents that might explain in more detail how the Catholic church acted. Workshops and discussions on the Holocaust have been held between Yad Vashem staff and Catholic clergy.

Vatican officials have tried to smooth over the differences, although Pius remains on track for canonisation. Monsignor Antonio Franco, the papal envoy who threatened to stay away from the Holocaust service two years ago, said this week that the Vatican was making a "huge effort" to accelerate the opening of the archives. Perhaps within four or five years they might be revealed, he said. "It really demands a lot of work, a lot of investigation and things must be done in a very professional way," he said.

Pope Benedict was not coming to Israel to quarrel, Franco said, but at 82 he was an elderly man with a busy schedule and a visit to the museum had "never been on the agenda". This despite the fact that in 2000 his more charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, spent several hours at Yad Vashem listening to Holocaust survivors.

Vatican officials have also been at pains to describe the papal tour as a pilgrimage, not a political visit. But in reality it holds much more significance. It will be only the third visit of a pope to the Holy Land and comes at a time when hope of a genuine peace between Israel and the Palestinians is ever more illusory.

More and more Christians are leaving the area, particularly the Palestinian territories, for several reasons, among them friction with the surrounding Muslim community and the suffocating and often deadly effect of Israel's four-decade military occupation.Only in 1993 did the Vatican sign an accord recognising the state of Israel, but the "fundamental agreement" between the two sides, with its 15 articles about property rights and hugely valuable tax exemptions, has still not been implemented. Negotiations continue.

There are other issues of dispute, some theological, others practical. Many Israelis were angered by the pope's decision in January to revoke the excommunication of the British bishop Richard Williamson, who denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers. Senior Jewish leaders said that decision threatened the reconciliation between the Catholic church and the Jewish people. In February, an Israeli TV show was forced to apologise after airing a sketch that ridiculed Jesus and Mary.

Some opinion polls have suggested these differences run deep. A poll of Jewish Israelis by the Jerusalem Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations last year found that 41% regarded Christianity as an idolatrous religion, and 46% did not believe Jerusalem was a central city for the Christian world. Some 40% believed the Catholic church had a very or largely negative attitude towards Judaism and Jews.

Hardliners have played on this, and on Benedict's own background growing up in wartime Germany. Michael Ben Ari, a far-right Israeli MP, said on Tuesday that the pope's visit would be an insult to the memory of Holocaust victims.

"A state welcome for the pope would be turning our backs on the millions of Jews who were killed in the shadow of the Christian religion of grace and mercy," he told a session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. "This pope was a member of the Hitler Youth."

Among Palestinians, political expectations are high. They hope Benedict will speak out in support of Palestinian independence. After he says mass in Bethlehem on Wednesday he will visit Aida, a Palestinian refugee camp, where a stone stage has been built for him next to Israel's vast concrete West Bank barrier. Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said the camp itself symbolised the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees who were forced out or fled from what is now Israel in the 1948 war.

However, it is far from clear whether Benedict will speak out on these political issues, and it now seems doubtful that he will even reach the stage in Aida camp.

Elsewhere there are more careful voices. Father William Shomali, rector of the Latin seminary in Beit Jala, next to Bethlehem, said there was little point hoping that the pope's visit might alter the reality of the conflict. "After hundreds of meetings between committees and sub-committees we are still negotiating how and with whom to negotiate," he said. "I don't want it to be a political visit or it will continue the frustration."

Instead, he hoped the pope would emphasise prayer, acknowledgement of the suffering of others, reconciliation and religious dialogue. "If everyone recognises his own guilt, reconciliation becomes easier," he said.

As for Pius XII and his wartime conduct, although it is true the Vatican has been slow to study the issue in detail, it also appears that Yad Vashem's verdict is not the last word.

Some historians, among them Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's biographer, have come out in support of Pius as in fact an unsung hero of the war. He points out that the pope's 1942 Christmas message infuriated the Nazis because it defended the Jews, and notes that the pope organised rescues of Jews in Hungary and intervened to stop deportations in Slovakia. In 1943, Pius tried to disrupt implementation of the Final Solution throughout occupied Italy. continues here