POPE BENEDICT XVI's U.S. VISIT

The Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies' Rabbi James Rudin, along with other Jewish leaders, met with Pope Benedict XVI during his recent visit to the United States. The following is adapted from Rabbi Rudin's Religion News Service commentary.

The first of my two encounters with Pope Benedict XVI last month in Washington, DC was a ceremonial interreligious gathering of 150 invited leaders representing Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

In his remarks, the pope urged us to ensure religious liberty so "all people can worship freely." He also said "minorities must be spared discrimination," and he called for spiritual leaders to work together to achieve a "just peace."

At a private meeting with Jewish representatives following that speech, the pope shared his Passover greetings. Unfortunately, the pope read only a portion of his prepared remarks. He left out one significant sentence: "I wish to reaffirm the Second Vatican Council's teaching on Catholic-Jewish relations and reiterate the Church's commitment to the dialogue that in the past 40 years has fundamentally changed our relationship for the better."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked me and Sara Bloomfield, the director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, to represent our delegation and "receive" the pope's Passover greetings.

While shaking hands with Benedict, I assured him that Jews "look forward to working together in dialogue to strengthen mutual respect, knowledge and understanding between our faiths." Benedict quickly replied, "Yes, yes, we need more dialogue!"

When Pope John Paul II visited Rome's Great Synagogue in 1986, he called Jews "our elder brothers in faith." As an "elder brother," I offered my personal blessing to Pope Benedict XVI: "Hazak v'ematz" ("be strong and good courage"), words from the Hebrew Bible.

However, it is not only the pope who needs strength and courage, but many others in our two faith communities. Because Jews (3,500 years) and Catholics (2,000 years) have long histories and memories, there will always be flashpoints as we seek, in the pope's words, to "fundamentally" change "our relationship for the better."

What is different today from past centuries is the existence of a large group of dedicated Jews and Catholics, including supporters of our Center, who have built sturdy bonds of trust with one another; in Washington, Benedict reaffirmed his personal commitment to that effort.

The ceremonial part is over. Now our Center must intensify the vital work of building positive Catholic-Jewish relations and press forward.