Vatican City, Jan 15, 2006 / 22:00 pm
In a meeting earlier today with Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Sengi and members of Rome’s Jewish community, Pope Benedict stressed the need for Jews and Catholics to spread together what he called, “the torch of the Ten Commandments.”
The Pope also expressed Christian solidarity with the Jews, noting the two faith’s common “heritage of the Fathers.”
He began his brief address by referring to Moses' song of thanksgiving after the Israelites had passed safely through the Red Sea. "Your visit”, he told the delegation, “fills me with joy and it motivates me to renew with you this song of thanks for salvation.
He pointed out that “The people of Israel have been liberated many times from the hands of their enemies and, in times of anti-Semitism, in the dramatic moments of the Shoah, the hand of the Almighty guided and sustained them.”