Pope Benedict XVI condemned all forms of anti-Semitism and called for the strengthening of relations between Christians and Jews, at a meeting Friday with French Jewish leaders in Paris.
The Pope, who is on a four-day state visit to France, met the representatives of the French Jewish community.
During the meeting, he quoted the words of Pope XI: “Spiritually, we are Semites. The Church therefore is opposed to every form of anti-Semitism, which can never be theologically justified.”
He mentioned French theologian Henri de Lubac who said that “to be anti-Semitic also signifies being anti-Christian.”
Benedict XVI stressed that Christians and Jews “share a relationship that should be strengthened and lived.”
“We know that these fraternal bonds constitute a continual invitation to know and respect one another better.”
The Pope noted that the meeting took place just before Shabbast, “a day which from time immemorial has occupied a significant position in the religious and cultural life of the people of Israel,” he said.
The pontiff thanked the Jewish community for its contribution to French society’s spiritual, political, cultural and artistic patrimony and told the Jewish leaders: “Shabbat Shalom!”
(Source: EJP)
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What irony! Who’s he kidding??
The Christians have murdered more Jews than Hitler, and have spilled more blood than any other denomination on earth. They tortured our brothers and sisters in the most inhuman and unimaginable fashion, in largely failed attempts to coerce them to simply ‘kiss the cross’.
Yes, modern day Christian groups try to distance themselves from their bloody past, claiming that their antecedants ‘weren’t acting Christian’. But anyone familiar with history will be aware that progroms, crusades and inquisitions were carried out by every different branch of Christianity, and the only denominator that strings them together is the fact that they were all fundamentalist Christians, and they tortured and murdered in the name of Christianity.
To those who have a perfunctionary knowledge of their infamous scriptures will be aware that the origin of this hate is dripping from every page of their ‘sacred’ texts. I do not feel it proper to post the NT verse references on this site, but suffice it to say that John refers to us as the ‘seed of the devil’, while Paul in Thessalonians says we are destined to ‘burn in the eternal lake of hell-fire’, in the book of Acts we are blamed and cursed for our disbelief and our supposed role in the crucifixion, while Matthew and almost all the rest concentrate much on the ‘passion’, constantly villifying the Jews of the time, purposely arousing deep hate for the Jewish people amongst their followers.
This anti-semitism has been perpetuated by almost every pope and church leader up until the last century – inclusive, and they are responsible for the merciless slaughter of our people. Thank you Pope Benedict for your kind words of love and affection, but I see a different picture. Perhaps you might consider apologizing instead for your abhorrent history, but that’s probably too much to ask.