Pope Benedict XVI claimed today that the Vatican and many Italian Catholics had saved Jews during the Second World War, “often in a hidden and discreet way”. He was responding to accusations that Pius XII, the wartime pontiff he has put on the road to sainthood, failed to speak out against the Holocaust.
However, Jewish leaders used the Pope’s first visit to the Rome synagogue to condemn Pius XII for failing to raise his voice in defence of “our brothers who were sent to the ovens of Auschwitz”.
In a move to soothe relations with the Jewish world Pope Benedict apologised for Christian responsibility for anti-Semitism and urged Jews and Christians “to come together to strengthen the bonds which unite us and to continue to travel together along the path of reconciliation and fraternity”.
The German-born Pope, 82, who was repeatedly applauded, said: ”The Church has not failed to deplore the failings of her sons and daughters, begging forgiveness for all that could in any way have contributed to the scourge of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism ... May these wounds be healed for ever.”
The Pope recalled the pioneering visit to the synagogue in 1986 by John Paul II, his predecessor, who had “wanted to make a decisive contribution to strengthening the good relations between our two communities, so as to overcome every misconception and prejudice”.
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He added: “My visit forms a part of the journey already begun, to confirm and deepen it.”
The Second Vatican Council had given “a strong impetus to our irrevocable commitment to pursue the path of dialogue, fraternity and friendship, a journey which has been deepened and developed in the last forty years”.
The Pope went on: “I cherish in my heart each moment of the pilgrimage that I had the joy of making to the Holy Land in May of last year, along with the memories of numerous meetings with Jewish communities and organisations, in particular my visits to the synagogues of Cologne and New York.”
In a reference to Nazism the Pope said that the 20th Century had been “a truly tragic period for humanity: ferocious wars that sowed destruction, death and suffering like never before; frightening ideologies, rooted in the idolatry of man, of race, and of the state, which led to brother killing brother”.
He added that “the singular and deeply disturbing drama of the Shoah represents the most extreme point on the path of hatred that begins when man forgets his Creator and places himself at the centre of the universe”.
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He recalled “the Roman Jews who were snatched from their homes, before these very walls, and who with tremendous brutality were killed at Auschwitz. How could one ever forget their faces, their names, their tears, the desperation faced by these men, women and children?
“The extermination of the people of the Covenant of Moses, at first announced, then systematically programmed and put into practice in Europe under the Nazi regime, on that day tragically reached as far as Rome.
“Unfortunately, many remained indifferent, but many, including Italian Catholics, sustained by their faith and by Christian teaching, reacted with courage, often at risk of their lives, opening their arms to assist the Jewish fugitives who were being hunted down, and earning perennial gratitude. The Apostolic See itself provided assistance, often in a hidden and discreet way.”
The Pope was welcomed to the synagogue by Riccardo Di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Rome. The ceremony, including the singing of Psalm 133 by the synagogue choir to organ accompaniment and prayers for peace,was also attended by senior Italian politicians and by representatives of the Rome Muslim community, who said they hoped the Pope would visit the Rome mosque.
Rabbi Di Segni said that “despite a dramatic history, the unresolved problems, and the misunderstandings, it is our shared visions and common goals that should be given pride of place”. He called for “brotherhood and friendship” between Christians, Muslims and Jews, “all those who acknowledge the spiritual legacy of Abraham”.
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In a toughly worded welcoming address, Riccardo Pacifici, head of the Jewish community, said that he respected those Jews who had decided to boycott the Popes visit.
To prolonged applause he added that “the silence of Pius XII before the Shoah” remained painful. “Perhaps he could not have stopped the trains of death, but he could have sent a signal, a word of extreme comfort, of human solidarity for those of our our brothers who sent to the ovens of Auschwitz”.
He urged the Vatican to open up its archives on the wartime period to scholars.
The visit, held amid high security measures, was Benedict’s third to a synagogue since he became Pope in 2005 and his first to the Rome synagogue, home to one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities.
Fifteen Holocaust survivors attended the ceremony, but some boycotted it, as did a number of leading Italian Jews, including Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, head of the Italian Rabbinical Assembly.
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They said that they were angered by Pope Benedict’s efforts to put Pius XII on the road to sainthood. Piero Terracina, an elderly Auschwitz survivor, said he still felt bitter that Pius XII had not spoken out against the 1943 deportations.
In December the Pope confirmed the “heroic virtues” of Pope Pius XII, a step toward his beatification. The Vatican insists that Pope Pius worked quietly behind the scenes to save Jews because to intervene directly could have worsened the situation for both Jews and Catholics in Europe.
The Pope’s visit today Sunday coincided with the Catholic Church’s day of Christian-Jewish dialogue. Last year Rabbi Di Segni and other Italian rabbis boycotted the Day of Dialogue to protest against the Pope’s reintroduction of a Latin Easter prayer that appeared to call for the conversion of Jews.
The same month the Pope sparked further anger by revoking the 1988 excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, one of four ultra-conservative bishops rehabilitated as part of the Pope’s attempts to bring the Society of St Pius X, or Lefebvrists, back into the Catholic fold.
Pope Benedict’s visit also coincided with the day the Jewish community in Rome commemorates a “miracle” in the ghetto, when a mob set fire to buildings in an anti-Semitic riot in 1793 but the flames were extinguished by a sudden downpour.