Pope Francis -- Into an ice age: 1. “fuels an already out of control global antisemitism” 2. “Inappropriate comments while antisemitism runs rampant in Europe” and around the world
The Chief Rabbinate sent a letter in protest, saying,
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“This is in effect part and parcel of the ‘teaching of contempt’ towards Jews and Judaism that we had thought had been fully repudiated by the Church”
The Vatican responded that the pope had not intended to be seen as passing judgment on the law of the Torah
Rabbi David Rosen, former American Jewish Committee International Director of Inter-religious Affairs, maintained, pointing to the pontiff’s tendency to quote New Testament passages that portray Pharisees and rabbis, in a negative light
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”Francis makes mistakes in his comments on Jews
Pope Benedict would never have done that”
Rosen sees a worrying pattern that he doesn’t expect to change
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“We’ve tried to bring it to Francis' attention many times in many different ways"
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"He’s been warned so many times on these things and he continues to do it”
Rosen postulated,
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“I don’t think Francis understands our sensibilities profoundly”
That disconnect could come from the fact that, unlike his predecessors, Francis did not witness the Holocaust first hand and it did not shape his worldview as a young man
