Jewish leaders say pope's past cause for optimism, not concern

Published: 2005-06-13

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When recent headlines announced that Pope Benedict XVI had once been enrolled in the Hitler Youth, Jewish leaders who knew the new pope were not overly concerned. In the days after the pope's April 19 election, Ambassador Oded Ben-Hur said he asked Jewish audiences "to be patient, to not pass hasty judgments." Ben-Hur, Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, was optimistic because he was familiar with the new pontiff's track record as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote extensively about the importance of the Hebrew Scriptures for Christian faith; the ongoing mission of the Jews in God's plan of salvation for humanity; the error of blaming Jews for the death of Jesus; and how that error contributed to anti-Semitism and to instances of Christian complacency in the face of the Holocaust. The new pope's theological contributions to Catholic-Jewish dialogue far outweighed any apprehensions by 25 leaders of the world's major Jewish organizations who met with the pontiff June 9 at Vatican.

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