Eight cardinals meet with international group of Jewish leaders

Published: 2004-01-20

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Eight cardinals from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America held an unprecedented meeting in New York Jan. 19 with an international group of top Jewish leaders. The event was initiated by Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris after he brought a group of French priests to New York last year for a program arranged by the World Jewish Congress. He invited his fellow cardinals, and the congress hosted the World Symposium of Catholic Cardinals and Jewish Leaders, a gathering of about 60 people at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan. Cardinal Lustiger, who was born to a Jewish family and became Christian when he was sheltered by a Christian family during World War II, told Catholic News Service that he originally had in mind a smaller, informal discussion. But, commenting that he had "too much success," he said more people than were first envisioned heard about the plans and wanted to come. Participants included Cardinals Lustiger; Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France; Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, Austria; Ivan Dias of Mumbai, India; Alexandre do Nascimento, retired archbishop of Luanda, Angola; Marc Ouellet of Quebec; Francis E. George of Chicago; and Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington.

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