Israeli rabbis urge pope to designate day against anti-Semitism

Published: 2005-09-15

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, Israeli's two chief rabbis proposed that the church designate an annual "day against anti-Semitism" to promote Catholic teaching on respect for Jews. The rabbis also asked the pope to speak out against the recent burning of synagogues in Gaza, following the departure of Israeli settlers there. The pope welcomed Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger at his summer residence outside Rome Sept. 15. Their meeting lasted about 45 minutes. The rabbis told reporters afterward that the encounter was a positive one, marking another step in the deepening of relations between Catholics and Jews. They invited the pope to visit Jerusalem, an invitation made previously by the Israeli government. They said they had proposed to the pope that Oct. 28 be set aside as a churchwide anti-Semitism day. The date marks the anniversary of the 1965 promulgation of "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council's landmark declaration that called for an end to anti-Semitism and all religious discrimination.

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