Cologne, Germany, Aug 18, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Gathered with members of Germany’s Jewish community, Pope Benedict today encouraged more “trustful dialogue” between Jews and Christians.
"We must come to know one another much more and much better," the pontiff said. “This dialogue, if it is to be sincere, must not gloss over or underestimate the existing differences: in those areas in which, due to our profound convictions in faith, we diverge, and indeed precisely in those areas, we need to show respect for one another.”
Progress had been made, he said, but "much more remains to be done."
His was only the second visit by a Pope to a synagogue. Pope John Paul II made the first papal visit to a synagogue in Rome in 1986. He said it was his deep desire, since his election to the papacy, to meet the Jewish community of Cologne and representatives of Judaism in Germany.