Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Rishon LeTzion Shlomo Amar are holding a historic meeting today in the Vatican with Pope John Paul II. The official topic of the 25-minute meeting will be the increasing number of anti-Semitic acts in Europe. The Pope, 83 and not in good health, is said to be "troubled" at the revival of such sentiment among Catholics in Europe. Vatican sources said that he would express to the Chief Rabbis his "solidarity with the Jewish people and their right to live in peace." He will also speak out against terrorism.
The Chief Rabbis were also expected to ask for special permission to investigate Vatican facilities to see if traces of the vessels of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem can be found. A menorah from the Temple being carried to Rome as war booty is depicted on the Arch of Triumph, near the Roman Coliseum, which was built in the first century C.E. to celebrate the Roman takeover of the Jewish country.
The Pope met Israel's previous Chief Rabbis, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, in March 2000 during his visit to Jerusalem. The Rabbis asked him to expressly apologize, during his subsequent visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, for the Church's role, and its silence, during the Holocaust. Though he lamented the crimes of what he called the "Shoah," the Pope did not apologize.
Before the visit in 2000, Rabbi Lau recounted to reporters the history of previous rabbinic-papal relations in this century. He said that Pope Pius XII refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the Holocaust and discuss how the Church could help save Jewish lives. After the war, too, Chief Rabbi Herzog asked for the Pope's assistance in locating Jewish orphans who were cared for by Catholic families, and again, the Pope refused. In 1964, when Pope Paul VI visited Israel, he refused to meet with the Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Nissim therefore boycotted the visit altogether. Rabbi Lau noted favorably the visit by the present Pope to visit the Chief Rabbis in their offices, as well as his refusal in the past to baptize a Jewish orphan "because the parents had specifically requested that the child be brought up as a Jew."
Rabbi Lau, however, was disappointed by the lack of apology for the Church's behavior during the Holocaust, and commented that the Pope had asked forgiveness for 1492 CE (the Inquisition), but had not yet addressed the sins of 1942 CE (the Holocaust).
The Chief Rabbis were also expected to ask for special permission to investigate Vatican facilities to see if traces of the vessels of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem can be found. A menorah from the Temple being carried to Rome as war booty is depicted on the Arch of Triumph, near the Roman Coliseum, which was built in the first century C.E. to celebrate the Roman takeover of the Jewish country.
The Pope met Israel's previous Chief Rabbis, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, in March 2000 during his visit to Jerusalem. The Rabbis asked him to expressly apologize, during his subsequent visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, for the Church's role, and its silence, during the Holocaust. Though he lamented the crimes of what he called the "Shoah," the Pope did not apologize.
Before the visit in 2000, Rabbi Lau recounted to reporters the history of previous rabbinic-papal relations in this century. He said that Pope Pius XII refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the Holocaust and discuss how the Church could help save Jewish lives. After the war, too, Chief Rabbi Herzog asked for the Pope's assistance in locating Jewish orphans who were cared for by Catholic families, and again, the Pope refused. In 1964, when Pope Paul VI visited Israel, he refused to meet with the Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Nissim therefore boycotted the visit altogether. Rabbi Lau noted favorably the visit by the present Pope to visit the Chief Rabbis in their offices, as well as his refusal in the past to baptize a Jewish orphan "because the parents had specifically requested that the child be brought up as a Jew."
Rabbi Lau, however, was disappointed by the lack of apology for the Church's behavior during the Holocaust, and commented that the Pope had asked forgiveness for 1492 CE (the Inquisition), but had not yet addressed the sins of 1942 CE (the Holocaust).