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A Rabbi At The Vatican
What a difference a century makes in
interfaith relations.
THE 1996 VOLVO 850
RABBI MARK G. LOEB SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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early a century ago,
Theodor Herzl traveled to
Rome to seek the support
of the Vatican for the then-
budding enterprise called the
Zionist Movement.
Three days later, Herzl came
face-to-face with Pope Pius X.
When he met the pope, he decid-
ed against kneeling before him or
kissing his ring. (He sensed af-
terward that this was probably
seen by the pope as unmitigated
gall.) Whatever his real feelings,
the pope reiterated essentially
what was the Roman Catholic
Church's long-standing policy:
"The Jews did not recognize our
Lord; and, therefore, we cannot
recognize the Jewish people."
This encounter between Jews
and papal authority revealed a
hostile animus that could have
been predicted because it had
been church policy for centuries.
But what a difference a century
makes. How large a difference
was revealed to me in recent
months, first when Pope John
Paul II came to Baltimore, and
then recently when I had occasion
to make a personal visit to Rome.
The pope's visit to Baltimore
revealed in miniature how pro-
foundly changed the Jewish-
Catholic reality has become in the
second half of the 20th century.
The transformation began a new
chapter when a simple Italian hill
peasant, Giuseppe Roncalli, rose
through the church to become
Pope John XXIII. It was he who
convened, in the early 1960s, a
Vatican Council whose work
gradually led to the issuance of
"In Nostra Aetate," the papal en-
cyclical on the church's relation-
ship to Judaism and the Jewish
people.
The church confessed to the
flaws in its teachings, pledged it
to reform its religious edu-
cation, and made clear that
anti-Semitism could never be tol-
erated again. The implications
were enormous, and many were
played out on the local level.
Perhaps the most important
force in this ongoing journey has
come from Cardinal William
Keeler, who has an international
reputation for his commitment to
Jewish-Catholic dialogue and rec-
onciliation.
By his service as president of
the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, and as a confi-
dant of the current pope, John
Paul II, who is himself deeply
Rabbi Mark G. Loeb is spiritual
director of Conservative Beth El
Congregation in Pikesville.
committed to ecumenical rela-
tions with the Jews, Cardinal
Keeler has made, this process
seem natural and inevitable.
When the pope agreed to come to
Baltimore last October, his visit
exemplified the positive relation-
ships that have been forged. In
advance of the pope's visit, Car-
dinal Keeler decided to sponsor a
concert of music inspired by the
Psalms at the Basilica of the An-
nunciation.
It was a remarkable evening,
co-sponsored by the Reform Jew-
ish community (through the Yale
and Peggy Gordon Trust and the
Jewish Chautauqua .;ociety) and
featured Maestro Gilbert Levine,
who had been conductor of the
Cracow Philharmonic, and had
received significant favor from the
Polish-born pope.
In Baltimore, he asked that
Jews be a prominent part of an
interfaith gathering at the Cathe-
dral of Mary Our Queen. Because
of Sukkot, and because my sched-
ule did not enable me to attend
the Papal Mass at Oriole Park ei-
ther, I was unable to attend and
somewhat disappointed. Howev-
er, in November, I realized I was
going to be in Rome for a private
visit in January. I decided to con-
tact Cardinal Keeler to ask if he
could help me gain admission to
a papal audience at the Vatican.
He wrote a generous letter on my
behalf, and while in Rome in De-
cember, he told the pope of my
supportive relationship to the
church in Baltimore. To my de-
light, I received a papal invitation
The papal audience is held in
a large ha dedicated to the mem-
ory of Pope Paul VI nd can ac-
commodate nearly 7,000 people.
On this day, there were at least
5,000 in attendance. Before the
pope's entrance, one could sense
a growing anticipation and ex-
citement among the attendees.
What one also could not help but
notice was the universality of the
Church, by virtue of there being
groups from the Orient, from
Africa and Australia as well as
Europe and the Americas. And in
the front row, the first seat on the
aisle, sat a rabbi wearing a
yarmulke — me.
Shortly after 11 a.m., Pope
John Paul II made a gracious and
unpretentious entrance. After he
sat down, the excited audience
took their seats and one scriptural
reading was read by five priests
in five languages, each followed
by a personal message from the
pope, who is himself a gifted lin-
guist.
noint came as each of
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