Posted on 03/19/2013 12:24:46 PM PDT by Kaslin
One of the first official acts of the newly installed Pope Francis was to reach out to the Jewish community of Rome, as his predecessor Pope Benedict had done, and he is being greeted warmly by many Jewish leaders worldwide. For most of the last 1,500 years, though, Catholic-Jewish relations have not been so warm. In fact, there was a time when the Catholic Church was rocked with a scandal: It was alleged that the Pope himself was Jewish.
But that was almost 1,000 years ago, and the first order of business is to note how well received Pope Francis has been by Jews around the world.
The Religions News Services reported on March 14th that “Jews worldwide see an ally in Pope Francis,” pointing “in particular to his sympathetic and strong reaction to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in his native Argentina -- the deadliest bombing in the country’s history.”
Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, said, “As far as I have heard and read in the few minutes since he was elected pope, he has shown deep signs of respect and friendship towards the Jews. It’s a good starting point.”
According to Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis “has had a warm relationship with the Jewish community of Argentina, and enjoyed close friendships with many prominent rabbis.”
And David Novak, a professor of Jewish Studies and philosophy at the University of Toronto, expressed his hopes that Francis would improve “on his predecessor’s prioritization of Jewish-Catholic relations,” pointing back to the papacy of John Paul II as the highest point achieved in these relations. It was John Paul who recognized the State of Israel in 1997 and was the first pope “to visit Auschwitz, to bless Israel, and to apologize for Christian acts against Jews.”
“If the Catholics don’t canonize him,” Novak said, “the Jews should.”
Sentiments like this, of course, were not always the norm for the Catholic Church and the Synagogue (to put it mildly), as Matt, a listener to my radio show, reminded me last week via email. With evident passion, he told me that, “You Jews are Christ-killers on the road to eternal condemnation,” referring to me as a “blasphemer and murder[er] of the Lord God Jesus Christ.” (This is because I am both Jewish and a follower of Jesus, but in Matt’s mind, the former must cancel out the latter.)
He also noted that, “There is Absolutely No Salvation Outside of the Catholic Church you killer of God Lord Jesus Christ.” To back up his vitriol, he supplied a series of apparently anti-Semitic quotes from previous popes, including Pope Clement VIII, Pope Innocent IV, Pope Gregory IX, and Pope Saint Pius V.
I honored his hard work and thoughtfulness (sarcasm intended) by reading excerpts of his letter on the air, which, I imagine, gave him further assurance of my alleged perfidy. Perhaps I should have offered to send him a free copy of my book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, written in 1992 but continuously in print since then, outlining the horrible history of “Christian” anti-Semitism. (But wait. I have a sneaking suspicion that he might not be looking for dialogue. And it turns out the website he links in his email warns against Pope Francis too!)
Putting Matt’s email aside, there really have been many tragic episodes in Catholic-Jewish history, some of them deadly (think of the Crusades and the Inquisitions; Catholics, of course, do not have a monopoly on persecuting Jews in Jesus’ name, just to be fair). But there is one episode that might be the most telling of them all.
In the 1130’s, there were two rival popes, Anacletus II and Innocent II, and it seems that the most serious charge brought against Anacletus was that he was Jewish. How could this be? A Jewish pope? The Jewish Encyclopedia noted that Bernard of Clairvaux, a zealous supporter of Innocent, “poured forth his indignation in a vehement epistle to Lothaire, to the effect that ‘to the shame of Christ a man of Jewish origin was come to occupy the chair of St. Peter.’”
What? Did Bernard forget that Peter himself was a Jew, as were Paul and all the other apostles? (This is not the place to debate whether Peter was the first pope; for the record, I reject that he was.) Did Bernard forget that Christ himself was a Jew (“Christ” is simply the Greek way of saying “Messiah”) and that his mother’s name was actually Miriam, not Mary?
Catholics around the world are embracing the fact that, for the first time, a Jesuit has been installed as pope, something far less dramatic than having a Jewish pope. But from a Catholic perspective, that has already happened, not once, but twice, first with Peter and then with Anacletus.
I wonder how the Jewish world would react if the next pope turned out to be a Jew as well? For that matter, I wonder how the Catholic world would react. Talk about a story worthy of the news!
Peter was the first Pope,he was Jewish and he was married.
Some say that... others do not..
Roman catholic church history supports that.. BUT
other church history’s denies that(Popeistry) ever happened til 313 a.d. “or so”
Many protestants know roman catholic church history..
very very few roman catholics even know there’s another church history..
and few that do could care less..
Both historys merge in some places but are wholly different in other places..
Its a shame almost all roman catholics are not even aware of divergent church historys..
Probably why their comparisons of them are so weak.. by the few that even know..
WHY? would a church organization alter their history to support various dogma.?.
There must be an answer for those with a dog in this hunt..
To me.... its all entertainment.. watching all sides..
“Most catholics presume Peter was the first Pope.. that was Jewish and also married..
Wonder what would happen in WWII if that figment had crossed Hitlers beady noggin..”
I don’t think Hitler was too concerned about the origins or teaching of the Catholic Church. He was rather like one of those “Catholics” that you find in the Democrat Party.
I can't figure that out.
The first Pope was Jewish.
He Who appointed the first Pope was also Jewish.
All of the original Bishops were Jewish.
The vast majority of the original members of the Church were Jewish.
I'm just not clear on what, if anything, the problem might be.
Pope St Celestine V, (1294), was a layman (a non-ordained monk).
Incidentally, he was, until the resignation of Benedict XVI, the most recent pope in history to resign from office.
It did cross Hitler's filthy mind. He despised Christianity for many reasons. That Christianity is Jewish in origin was one of those reasons.
And many protestants have their minds filled with arrant nonsense that they mistake for Church History. The vast majority of them are absolutely convinced of their own righteousness, even as they wallow in error and falsehood.
Shim`on Bar Yonah?
Actually the last pope prior to Pope Benedict XVI was Pope Gregory XII who resigned in 1415
OK.
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven
And, of course, that's as likely as being hit by a meteor with your name on it.
Even weirder, there's nothing "written in stone" that Popes have to be elected by Cardinals. The Pope himself could make a rule that his successor must be male, but all electors must be female. (A favorite fantasy of mine.)
He could make a rule that the Pope must be Catholic, but the electors must be be all the Eastern Orthodox hierarchs. (Another favorite fantasy.)
And that's as likely as being hit by a meteor with your name on it in Greek, Syriac, and Old Church Slavonic.
If we assume that ultimately whoever is installed as Pope is the person whom God intended to be installed at that moment, then there is no less a chance of that happening than that a flaky Galilean Fisherman with no formal religious education would be chosen by God to be the first.
There may come a time when a lay Catholic is just the person needed to fill that position. Perhaps another Galilean fisherman. :-)
Or some shepherd kid
If we assume God’s in it, then the idea of a flaky Galilean fisherman makes more sense than it doesn’t at some point in time.
FWIW, I’ve seen some really gifted Catholic Deacons.
***Deacons are ordained ministers of the Roman Catholic Church. They perform various services at the parish level and are regarded as servants of the Pope, as opposed to priests, who are assistants to the Pope. Men who are interested in becoming deacons must go through a rigorous eligibility process before they are allowed to train for this position.
Read more: How to Become a Catholic Deacon | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5104601_become-catholic-deacon.html#ixzz2O2YWNQTo***
And many protestants have their minds filled with arrant nonsense that they mistake for Church History. The vast majority of them are absolutely convinced of their own righteousness, even as they wallow in error and falsehood.
True, many protestants have take roman catholic models of several spiritual things(1)..
Yet other protestants view roman catholic models of almost anything as sewage(2)...
Can you separate one from the other?..
If not... you may not know what you’re talking about..
And some think all three groups are walking with a limp.. i.e. 1,2, 3(Rcc)
I think this eHow contributor made an error here. The word "Bishop" should be substituted for "Pope" in this passage, unless the deacons and priests are serving in the Diocese of Rome.
Although most deacons work for priests, the diocesan bishop would be his ecclesiastical superior. The Pope would not have a direct role in this.
Our Diocese (Knoxville) has lots of deacons, and I'd love to see lots more. They are terrific!
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Ah!.. so Jesus gave Simon a nickname?... isn’t that cute..
Quite logical to a juvenile mind... a primitive mentality..
Course you know he didn’t say “Peter” he said “a ROCK”....
An operator in a wonderful metaphor.. he spoke mostly in metaphor.. to people, you know..
Not always but mostly..
Like the bread and wine speech he gave at the Passover Dinner before the Crucifixion..
Misunderstood by people that know nothing of what the Passover dinner stood for..
Juvenile minds do severe injustice to that speech...
They seem to make an almost pagan ceremony out of it..
Fortunately I can see the humor in the reaction to it..
I suppose God does as well... I would NOT be comfortable with a God that couldn’t or won’t laugh..
You make my scenario positively... plausible.
LOL.
BTW, it'd probably be something like... Pope Jude.
For obvious reasons.
sitetest
So you see St Peter was indeed the first pope. Don’t tell us Catholics he wasn’t
I don’t believe in Popes.. You can elect whoever you want as Pope..
And democrats can think Obama is a decent man.. same deal...
Thats “their”(your) choice... you can believe whatever you want to believe.. and will..
But because you believe it don’t make it so.. liberals do that a lot..
Whether you have a Pope or not does not effect me in the least..
Or whether mormons worship an Angel called “Moron-I”..
or whether horny bats fly out of Scientologists orifices..
I think God for the humor of it all..
There’s also the story of the first Pope actually being a Jewish secret agent:
[It’s a PDF]
www.chabadtalk.com/forum/attachment.php3?attachmentid=1448&d=1282266929
...“After these events, contention
grew between the Jews and the
Notzrim (the early Christians, all of
whom were Jews). A Notzri would take
every opportunity to kill a Jew, and the
troubles continued to mount for thirty
years.
The Notzrim formed armies of
tens of thousands and prevented the
Jews from making the aliyah l’regel,
the ascent to the Beis HaMikdash on
the Yamim Tovim. … Twelve of
Yeshu’s students (the “apostles”) went
to twelve different countries and
prophesied to them about the new religion,
and many Jews joined them.
…
“The Sages saw the terrible events
and said: ‘Please, Hashem, give us advice
… for innocent blood has been
shed among your people because of oso
ha’ish …’
“When they finished speaking, one
of the wise men named Shimon Kepha
rose … and said to them: ‘Listen my
brothers, if it is good in your eyes, I
will cause these men to separate from
the congregation of Israel. … If you
will accept upon yourselves [the responsibility
for] the sin.’...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.