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The Pope and the Jews
New Pope Benedict XVI was a close advisor of John Paul II; like the Church he represents, he has had a complex relationship with Jews
By Ynetnews
One of Pope John Paul II's closest confidants, the new Pope is said to share the late Pope's affinity for Jews, and is a member of the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews.
The German-born Pope has also participated in Catholic-Jewish dialogue, and has strongly condemned anti-Semitism. He has called for dialogue with the Jewish community, and said that discussions must start with a prayer for "greater esteem and love toward this people, the Israelites."
He also said Catholics must acknowledge the "gift that they (Jews) have made to us," meaning Jesus.
Ups-and-downs
But Ratzinger's relations with the Jewish community have not always been smooth.
He was criticized for a 2000 treatise entitled "Declaration Dominus Iesus" that said non-Catholic religions are "gravely deficient,"
and some Jewish leaders said the statement pushed Pope John Paul II to beatify Pius IX, the 19th century pope who severely restricted the civil and religious rights of Jews.
Ratzinger has also been dogged for years by charges he was a member of the Hitler Youth organization as a teenager in Germany, and he was held hostage by American forces after being conscripted into the German Army during World War Two.
But the new pope said the experience increased his sensibility towards Jews and taught him first-hand the evils of racism.
He says he "watched the Nazis twist and distort the truth," and that their "lies about Jews, about genetics, were more than academic exercises. People died by the millions because of them."
The Holocaust is another example of Ratzinger's up-and-down relations with the Jewish community.
He has called the Holocaust an "atrocity," and said anti-Semitism "produced deplorable acts of violence," including the failure of many Christians to help Jews escape the Nazi party.
Despite the denunciation, Ratzinger angered Jews as a cardinal for failing to apologize for the Holocaust and refusing to accept guilt on behalf of the Church for Catholics' complicity in it.
But he also acknowledged of the failures of Christians to come to the aid of Jews in a 1988 statement, and has also looked to the Holocaust to usher in "a new vision of relations between the Church and Israel."
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