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.
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