Pope Francis calls for Catholics to combat wave of post-Oct 7 antisemitism
The Vatican released a letter on Saturday in which Pope Francis decried the “terrible increase in attacks against Jews around the world” and the rise in antisemitism since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7.
“We, Catholics, are very concerned about the terrible increase in attacks against Jews around the world,” the 87-year-old pontiff wrote in a letter addressed to “My Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel”. The letter was sent to Karma Ben Johanan, a professor in the comparative religion department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was recently involved in promoting an appeal to Francis calling to boost Jewish-Christian friendship following October 7.
“[The war in Gaza has produced] divisive attitudes in public opinion worldwide and divisive positions, sometimes taking the form of antisemitism and anti-Judaism,” the Pope wrote.
“[The Church] rejects every form of anti-Judaism and antisemitism, unequivocally condemning manifestations of hatred towards Jews and Judaism as a sin against God,” he wrote.
“We had hoped that ‘Never again’ would be a refrain heard by the new generations, yet now we see that the path ahead requires ever closer collaboration to eradicate these phenomena,” he said.
In the letter, the Pope lamented that at least 136 hostages are still being held prisoner by Hamas in Gaza. He called for prayers for the return of the hostages.
“I would also like to add that we must never lose hope for a possible peace and that we must do everything possible to promote it, rejecting every form of defeatism and mistrust,” the pontiff continued. “In times of desolation, we have great difficulty seeing a future horizon where light replaces darkness, in which friendship replaces hatred, in which cooperation replaces war. However, we, as Jews and Catholics, are witnesses to precisely such a horizon.”
“We must act, starting first and foremost from the Holy Land, where together we want to work for peace and justice, doing everything possible to create relationships capable of opening new horizons of light for everyone, Israelis and Palestinians.”
He also said Jews and Catholics “must commit ourselves to this path of friendship, solidarity, and cooperation in seeking ways to repair a destroyed world, working together in every part of the world, and especially in the Holy Land, to recover the ability to see in the face of every person the image of God, in which we were created.”
“I can only reiterate that (…) the relationship that binds us to you is particular and singular, without ever obscuring, naturally, the relationship that the Church has with others and the commitment towards them, too,” said the Pope. “The path that the Church has walked with you, the ancient people of the covenant, rejects every form of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, unequivocally condemning manifestations of hatred towards Jews and Judaism as a sin against God,” expressing his hopes for “ever closer collaboration to eradicate these phenomena.”
The letter comes after a papal message in November described Israel’s war on Hamas as “genocidal terrorism”. In late December, Pope Francis described children dying in wars, including in the Gaza Strip, the “little Jesuses of today,” and said Israeli strikes were reaping an “appalling harvest” of civilians.The Vatican advocates for the creation of an unprecedented Palestinian state inside the borders of Israel that has been ethnically cleansed of Jews and with its capital in an exclusively Muslim Jerusalem. This is usually referred to euphemistically as a “Two-State Solution”.
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