Saying he intends to reinforce ties between Catholics and Jews during his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI capped the second day of his four-day visit to his native Germany yesterday with a visit to a Jewish synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis.
Addressing an audience that included Holocaust survivors, the pontiff said, "I bow my head before those who suffered during the Shoah."
The pope's appeal for reconciliation between German Christians and German Jews was made at a rebuilt synagogue in Cologne that was put to the torch during the Nov. 9, 1938, nationwide Nazi attacks on homes, businesses, schools and synagogues.
Echoing the words of Cologne Rabbi Netanel Teidelbaum, who read opening verses from the book of Genesis, the pope said, "We all of us, Christian and Jew alike, were created in the likeness of God."
Tracing the dark history of anti-Semitism over the centuries in Europe, culminating in the Holocaust, he said that the Shoah "was a turning away from the face of God to the darkness of hatred and destruction."
Calling for reconciliation, he added, "We must display mutual respect and mutual love for one another. Only in that way can we, Christians and Jews, move forward into a future of love and peace."
It was only the second visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Jewish place of worship. Pope John Paul II visited a synagogue in Rome in 1986 and undertook an unprecedented trip to Israel in March 2000.
Benedict called for dialogue with non-Christians, reiterating remarks he made on arrival at the airport that his meetings with Jewish and Muslim leaders during his stay were important for "a joint commitment for a just, fraternal future focused on humanity."
On his first official trip as pope, former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, arrived in Germany on Thursday, describing himself as another pilgrim like the 400,000 young Catholics who have gathered in Cologne for World Youth Day.
Unlike his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, he did not kiss the ground on stepping off his plane. But the crowds were nonetheless elated to see the new pontiff.
Everywhere he went, crowds responded with cheers, waving the flags of many nations. Chants of "Benedetto" and Mexican waves were also part of the enthusiastic welcome as the pope was driven through the streets in a popemobile with armored glass.
Using several languages in succession, Benedict said he had come to Cologne Cathedral as a pilgrim to venerate the relics there of the Magi, the three wise men or kings recorded in the New Testament as adoring the infant Jesus Christ.
Outside the cathedral, he departed from his notes to warmly describe the city as a place of "happy Catholicism" that he hoped would rub off on the World Youth Day visitors.
The four-day trip, culminating in a papal mass tomorrow, is the main feature of the boisterous youth rally for 400,000 Catholics under 30 that began on Tuesday. The last pope to visit Germany was John Paul II in 1996, when the reception was more muted.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS