Pope Francis continues to give hope and encouragement to those of us engaged in interreligious dialogue. This week he greeted an international committee of Jews as elder brothers and sisters, a greeting which has become common among Popes since the time of John XXIII. This close relationship with the Jewish community is highlighted by the fact that the department at the Vatican that deals with this is not the Council for Interreligious Dialogue but the Council for Ecumenism. As far as the Catholic Church is concerned Jews and Christians belong to the same family. Of course sometimes family feuds can be bitter and the relations between Christians and Jews over the centuries have been bitter to say the least of it. However the two communities have now been meeting formally for more than forty years and informal gatherings of Christians and Jews have also been happening over that period. The turning point came for the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council when the document on interreligious dialogue recognised the dignity and integrity of the Jewish people and condemned anti-semitism. Rabbi David Rosen has said that he does not know of any other document or even event that has so changed a relationship between people as this document.
At the meeting this week Pope Francis spoke of friendship being the basis of the development of more official dialogues
and reflected on his own friendship with members of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires. He said " I met with them on various occasions to discuss the challenges which Jews and Christians both face. But above all, as friends, we enjoyed each other’s company, we were all enriched through encounter and dialogue, and we welcomed each other, and this helped all of us grow as people and as believers". Obviously the Pope is a supporter of face to face dialogue and sees the time spent in developing good relations as a positive thing which allows for conversations about difficult issues.
At the meeting this week Pope Francis spoke of friendship being the basis of the development of more official dialogues
and reflected on his own friendship with members of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires. He said " I met with them on various occasions to discuss the challenges which Jews and Christians both face. But above all, as friends, we enjoyed each other’s company, we were all enriched through encounter and dialogue, and we welcomed each other, and this helped all of us grow as people and as believers". Obviously the Pope is a supporter of face to face dialogue and sees the time spent in developing good relations as a positive thing which allows for conversations about difficult issues.
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