Every year on Pesach (Passover) Jewish families worldwide gather around the dinner table for the Jewish ritual of remembrance known as a Seder (order). On that night, at some point, a young child will get to ask “the four questions” to the leader, in the form of a beautiful Hebrew song known as the Ma Nishtanah. The song’s theme revolves around the question: “Why is this night different from all the other nights?” The Father or grandfather then proceeds to explain why the night of Pesach is so different.
As a Jew who grew up in France in the 60s and 70s, I was a minority in a country where Sunday mornings where punctuated by church bells from one village to the next all over France, and all over Europe for that matter. France has always been a very Catholic country (up to 85% when I grew up). I never understood my Catholic friends’ rituals and even less their veneration for the Pope. All I saw was an old man wearing a Jewish yarmulke making a bunch of funny gestures and being in charge of a lot of people.
It is not until my late teenage years and early adulthood that I started to realize the damage that had been done to my people by much of the Catholic Church over 2000 years. As I progressively became more aware and more interested in my Jewish roots, I found it virtually impossible to disassociate the persecution of my people from the growth and hegemony of the Catholic Church. The more I looked into it, the more I discovered that Christian anti-Semitism was Catholic anti-Semitism for the most part. This was all confirmed later when I pursued my degree in Jewish studies and further learned about Jewish history.
Such a bold statement needs to be balanced by the disclaimer that: “Not all Catholics are anti-Semites, just like not all Germans in the 30s and 40s were Nazis”. Nevertheless, the rise of countless Popes from Peter (the first Pope according to Catholic theology) to today’s Francis I, wasn’t without its share of persecutions, torture, bloodshed and death for my Jewish people.
Ironically, one of the best books ever written on the topic of Christian anti-Semitism was by Edward Flannery, a Jesuit priest (incidentally, Pope Francis I is apparently the first Jesuit to become Pope). Flannery wrote “The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-Three Centuries of Antisemitism” in 1964. In it, he painstakingly documented a history of the Jewish people punctuated by a plethora of antis-Semitic acts. The work is superb, yet poignant and sobering.
In it, Flannery never beats around the bush even when it comes to point a righteous finger at many Popes throughout history. It is a small miracle that he was never excommunicated considering that his groundbreaking work was published almost two years before Vatican II and the now famous Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions). As he documented, history unfortunately doesn’t lack papal faux pas in the area of Christian/Jewish relations. Here are just a few:
• Urban II (1035-1099) makes a “historic” speech in 1095 that will give birth to the First Crusade of 1096. Organized as a campaign to regain Jerusalem from the Muslims, the First Crusade was responsible for the death of upwards of 10,000 Jews ((Flannery, Edward, The Anguish of the Jews, Paulist Press, 2004 pp 93-94). A Crusader motto was born: “kill a Jew, save your soul”.
• Pope Innocent III (1161-1216) convoked the Third Lateral Council in 1215 during which a distinctive dress was created for Jews to wear. It was first adopted by France in the form of a yellow circle on garments known as the rouelle. Innocent III also believed that Jews were condemned to slavery because they had “crucified Christ.”
• Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) expelled Jews from his realm on account of usury. He was also the originator of the Medieval Inquisition that was responsible for the forced conversions, torture and death of thousands more Jews in France, Italy and Spain amongst other European countries over several decades.
• Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) Decided that all Jews of Italy should all be gathered in a contained, forced community and the Roman Ghetto was invented.
• Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) was the leader of the Catholic Church during WWII and as such found himself faced with the horrors of Nazism and the massacres of 6,000,000 Jews amongst other victims. While many claim that he was helpful to the Jewish community, his involvement was controversial at best in light of recent discoveries that claim that he insisted on the “neutrality of the Church”. He is currently in the process of being canonized.
Enter Pope Francis I, apparently a Jew loving pontiff! So why is this Pope different from all other Popes?
Pope Francis I appears to be a very humble man with a deep understanding of Jewish/Christian relations. Being the first pope to come from outside Europe in more than a millennium, is it possible that he carries less baggage and/or prejudice than his European predecessors did? Only time will tell!
He attended Rosh Hashanah services in Buenos Aires in 2007 and has been seen supporting the Jewish community of Argentina for more than a few decades. This Pope appears to be a genuine friend of the Jews, which is a novel concept in 2000 years of papacy. At least this is the consensus amongst the broader Jewish community.
But if history is our witness, we have seen a plethora of Popes, one after the other annul and reinstate anti-Jewish laws. So I say that even though the new pontiff shows good faith towards the Jewish community, it is too early to tell the ramifications that his relations with our people will have.Only time will tell!
2000 years of persecution vastly at the hands of the Catholic Church cannot be erased by a couple of statements or even a couple of community partnership between the pontiff (then cardinal) and a few rabbis and/ or synagogues. Last monday, he was quoted saying:“Because of our common roots, a true Christian cannot be anti-Semitic.” I applaud that statement on the basis of its biblical veracity but I will await more action on the part of the Catholic Church and this new Pope. Only time will tell!
In an age of renewed anti-Semitism worldwide from all fronts, I remain skeptical. I really pray that this Pope would be different from all the other Popes. If he takes his Bible seriously, he can only come to the conclusion that God loves the Jewish people and is not done with Israel (Romans 9, 10, 11). Additionally, if he really searches his heart and the Scriptures, he will realize that he is just another sinner saved by God’s grace. NOW THAT WOULD MAKE HIM A POPE DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER POPES!
He attended Rosh Hashanah services in Buenos Aires in 2007 and has been seen supporting the Jewish community of Argentina for more than a few decades. This Pope appears to be a genuine friend of the Jews, which is a novel concept in 2000 years of papacy. At least this is the consensus amongst the broader Jewish community.
But if history is our witness, we have seen a plethora of Popes, one after the other annul and reinstate anti-Jewish laws. So I say that even though the new pontiff shows good faith towards the Jewish community, it is too early to tell the ramifications that his relations with our people will have.Only time will tell!
2000 years of persecution vastly at the hands of the Catholic Church cannot be erased by a couple of statements or even a couple of community partnership between the pontiff (then cardinal) and a few rabbis and/ or synagogues. Last monday, he was quoted saying:“Because of our common roots, a true Christian cannot be anti-Semitic.” I applaud that statement on the basis of its biblical veracity but I will await more action on the part of the Catholic Church and this new Pope. Only time will tell!
In an age of renewed anti-Semitism worldwide from all fronts, I remain skeptical. I really pray that this Pope would be different from all the other Popes. If he takes his Bible seriously, he can only come to the conclusion that God loves the Jewish people and is not done with Israel (Romans 9, 10, 11). Additionally, if he really searches his heart and the Scriptures, he will realize that he is just another sinner saved by God’s grace. NOW THAT WOULD MAKE HIM A POPE DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER POPES!
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
#antisemitism #newantisemitism #popeandthejews
In my recollection the official word of a Pope rises in authority above the Scripture/Bible, in the Catholic view. So, where does the final authority rest? Whose theology?
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Jesuits are the most treacherous and deceitful tools the Enemy employs. The head of the Jesuits, called the “Black Pope” has been running the Vatican for generations. It is probable that no nonJesuit was willing now to be white Pope, just like Ratinger.
Do some research on Petter the Roman or better yet get the book “Petrus Romanus” The Pope isn’t the head of the church he heads he Roman Caholic Church not “The Church”. Only Jesus Christ is the head of this Church.
Sorry Peter the Roman
1000 years of Catholicism have taught that we (as Christians) are still “just sinners”. Psa 1: “Sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous”. Romans 6,7,8. “No longer sinners”. We are the righteous who sometimes sin. There is a difference. But yes, the pope is still a sinner! He will probably be the one who makes the final covenant with Israel – only to be broken (by him) at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel.
Catholicism is a cult just like any other cult. The fact that they persecute God’s chosen people does not surprise me.
Hey – I’m no catholic, my wife is and as such I do go to a catholic church and do know that from the pulpit the true message is preached. Look..I know there are some things that I don’t agree with i.e. veneration of Pope, Mary – Confessions but Jesus Christ is preached as the head of the church and I believe that the fundamentals are there. No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
Didn’t Paul say that we all worship God in our own ways – some are weaker in faith than others.
Don’t cause dissension within the body. Of what benefit is that?
Trust that God will look after his own – He knows who are his.
Anyone who places himself as ‘the vicar of Christ,’ ‘vicarious Christi’ is of the spirit of antichrist. The sweeter they are, the more convincing the deceivers. A Jesuit has finally attained the papacy. Do your homework. These are the last of the last days. Now is NOT the time to be taken in by deadly sweetness; be not deceived. Christ warned more of deception than of any other of the signs and symptoms of the end of the age. Test everyone, test everything, by the Word of God.
Yes, jews have been oppressed for thousands of years. While others have learned from their mistakes, jews continue this cycle of hatred with their invasion and oppression of Palestine.