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Pope considering visit to Israel

E-mail|Link|Comments (2) Posted by Michael Paulson November 27, 2008 10:37 AM

BXVI%20in%20synagogue.jpg The Vatican announced today that Pope Benedict XVI is considering a trip to Israel. Here is the announcement:

In response to an article that appeared in an Israeli newspaper concerning a forthcoming trip by the Pope to the Holy Land, Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. made the following declaration: "I can confirm that contacts exist at a diplomatic level between the Holy See and Israel to study the possibility of a trip by the Pope to the Holy Land next year."

Benedict visited the Park East Synagogue (above right) in New York in April, and visited a synagogue in Germany in 2005, but his relationship with the Jewish community has been complicated by his consideration of the canonization of Pope Pius XII, whose record during World War II is the subject of controversy. And there is also an ongoing tax dispute between Israel and the Vatican. Pope John Paul II visited Israel in 2000, and Pope Paul VI visited in 1964.

(Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images.)

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2 comments so far...

This Pope is doing everything he can on an intellectual and exhortative level to help Islam become more 'rational,' to see the similarities between Islam and Christianity (and therefore Judaism), to help Islam have its 'Enlightenment moment', to search out and uplift the more moderate voices in Islam. I suggest all this would help Israel in the medium and long term, if not the short term. There was just a major Muslim-Catholic conference held at the Vatican a few weeks ago--might be worth a story, or at least a blog, Michael.

Posted by gaudete November 28, 08 01:32 PM

I meant to add that this is a similar intellectual 'soft offensive' that undermined the intellectual and moral defenses of communism and the Soviet Union. The Church (Catholic and Orthodox, less so the Protestant) have over 1300 years experience dealing with sometimes jihadic, always aggressive, Islam. Nations formed since the Reformation and Enlightenment should pay attention.

Posted by gaudete November 28, 08 03:49 PM

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Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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