Benedict XVI's Visit to the Grand Rabbinate
"Our Two Communities Are Challenged to Engage People
of Good Will at the Level of Reason"
JERUSALEM, MAY 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).-
Here is the text of Benedict XVI's address during a courtesy visit to
the "Hechal Shlomo" center, seat of the Grand Rabbinate, after
he visited the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
* * *
Distinguished Rabbis,
Dear Friends,
I
am grateful for the invitation to visit Heichal Shlomo and to meet with
you during this trip of mine to the Holy Land as Bishop of Rome. I
thank Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger for
their warm words of welcome and the desire they have expressed to
continue strengthening the bonds of friendship which the Catholic
Church and the Chief Rabbinate have labored so diligently to forge over
the past decades. Your visits to the Vatican in 2003 and 2005 are a
sign of the good will which characterizes our developing relations.
Distinguished
Rabbis, I reciprocate by expressing my own respect and esteem for you
and your communities. I assure you of my desire to deepen mutual
understanding and cooperation between the Holy See, the Chief Rabbinate
of Israel and Jewish people throughout the world.
A great source
of satisfaction for me since the beginning of my pontificate has been
the fruit yielded by the ongoing dialogue between the Delegation of the
Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Delegation for Relations with the Catholic
Church. I wish to thank the members of both delegations for their
dedication and hard work in implementing this initiative, so earnestly
desired by my esteemed predecessor Pope John Paul II, as he said during
the Great Jubilee Year of 2000.
Our encounter today is a most
fitting occasion to give thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings
which have accompanied the dialogue conducted by the Bilateral
Commission, and to look forward with expectation to its future
sessions. The willingness of the delegates to discuss openly and
patiently not only points of agreement, but also points of difference,
has already paved the way to more effective collaboration in public
life. Jews and Christians alike are concerned to ensure respect for the
sacredness of human life, the centrality of the family, a sound
education for the young, and the freedom of religion and conscience for
a healthy society. These themes of dialogue represent only the initial
phases of what we trust will be a steady, progressive journey towards
an enhanced mutual understanding.
An indication of the potential
of this series of meetings is readily seen in our shared concern in the
face of moral relativism and the offences it spawns against the dignity
of the human person. In approaching the most urgent ethical questions
of our day, our two communities are challenged to engage people of good
will at the level of reason, while simultaneously pointing to the
religious foundations which best sustain lasting moral values. May the
dialogue that has begun continue to generate ideas on how Christians
and Jews can work together to heighten society's appreciation of the
distinctive contribution of our religious and ethical traditions. Here
in Israel, given that Christians constitute only a small portion of the
total population, they particularly value opportunities for dialogue
with their Jewish neighbors.
Trust is undeniably an essential
element of effective dialogue. Today I have the opportunity to repeat
that the Catholic Church is irrevocably committed to the path chosen at
the Second Vatican Council for a genuine and lasting reconciliation
between Christians and Jews. As the Declaration Nostra Aetate makes
clear, the Church continues to value the spiritual patrimony common to
Christians and Jews and desires an ever deeper mutual understanding and
respect through biblical and theological studies as well as fraternal
dialogues. May the seven Bilateral Commission meetings which have
already taken place between the Holy See and the Chief Rabbinate stand
as evidence! I am thus grateful for your reciprocal assurance that the
relationship between the Catholic Church and the Chief Rabbinate will
continue to grow in respect and understanding in the future.
My
friends, I express again my deep appreciation for the welcome you have
extended to me today. I am confident that our friendship will continue
to set an example of trust in dialogue for Jews and Christians
throughout the world. Looking at the accomplishments achieved thus far,
and drawing our inspiration from the Holy Scriptures, we can
confidently look forward to even stronger cooperation between our
communities -- together with all people of good will -- in decrying
hatred and oppression throughout the world. I pray that God, who
searches our hearts and knows our thoughts (Ps 139:23), will continue
to enlighten us with his wisdom, so that we may follow his commandments
to love him with all our heart, soul and strength (cf. Dt 6:5), and to
love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18). Thank you.
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