FINAL ORBI ET URBI

World Jewish leaders meet with pope, discuss anti-Semitism

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the new leaders of the World Jewish Congress to the Vatican.

Ronald S. Lauder, elected president of the congress in June, said his talks at the Vatican Oct. 8 focused on interreligious dialogue and on anti-Semitism in a number of European countries.

While the congress issued a press release after the meeting, the Vatican simply announced that the pope had met the officers of the congress, which represents Jewish communities in more than 80 countries.

The congress' statement said Lauder, a former U.S. ambassador to Austria, told the pope that "the anti-Semitic statements" attributed to Redemptorist Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, founder and director of Poland's Radio Maryja, "should not be tolerated anymore."

Lauder "called on the pontiff to take action against those in the church who wanted to do damage to the close and positive relationship between Christians and Jews," the statement said.

Father Rydzyk, whose radio station ranks fifth in Poland's national ratings, repeatedly has been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks.

When Lauder and the organization's secretary-general, Michael Schneider, met the pope, they also highlighted the importance of dialogue among Christians, Jews and Muslims.

At a dinner with Vatican officials, diplomats and representatives of Italy's Jewish communities Oct. 7, Schneider said that with "their credo of death and destruction" a radical Muslim minority has been intimidating the Muslim majority.

"Fanatics seek no less than the complete destruction of our Western Judeo-Christian civilization, yet the majority of Muslims do not support Islamic fanaticism," he said. "Most Muslims are decent, law-abiding people. They have the same aspirations as we do for their families and for their future."

Christians and Jews, he said, must reach out to the Muslim majority and build "bridges of tolerance and understanding."

The press statement also said Lauder "offered to host a joint event in honor of the pope during the pontiff's forthcoming visit to the United States."

The congress has headquarters in New York, which is reported to be on the pope's itinerary for a spring 2008 trip.

"The pope accepted the invitation in principle and said that both sides should work on the arrangements," the congress said.

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