Apr 21, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Many have praised the papacy of John Paul II for the tremendous strides it made in bridging the divide between the world’s Catholic and Jewish communities, and, in the days following the election of Pope Benedict XVI, Jews are expressing hope that the new shepherd of the Catholic Church will continue this work.
Gary Krupp, president of Pave the Way Foundation, a New York non-profit devoted to religious understanding, was reported by JTA, saying that, “As far as Jewish people are concerned, Cardinal Ratzinger is a friend.”
“He is going to be as effective, if not more, than John Paul II” in furthering Catholic-Jewish relations. “He’s not going to backtrack. I think he’s going to be advancing these causes even further.”
As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then Cardinal Ratzinger was instrumental in the publication of ‘Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past’, which dealt with past errors in dealing with Jews, and ‘The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures.’