|
 Rabin Bemborad is probably
one personality among the Hebrews who came to know the Pontiffs of the
past century. He is the director of the Centre for inter-religious
understanding and his life is particularly intense. He escaped the
Holocaust and has been coming to Italy during the past eleven years for
seminars in the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and to
participate in various meeting, among which the one organised by the
Russel Barrie Foundation and the Pontifical University St. Thomas
Aquinas, dedicated to inter-religious dialogue. This initiative is
inserted in the area of a vast programme which, among other things,
foresees the award of a two-yearly scholarship to priests and lay
persons on inter-religious dialogue, to form a new generation of
religious leaders, capable of devoting oneself to the building of a
future in dialogue and peace.
Bemborad, who lives in the United States, is the author of a document
elaborated in January 2003, on the occasion of the symposium held in the
Vatican on the “Spiritual resources of religions for peace”. Even before
this, in 1992, she collaborated with the Cardinals Johannes WiIlebrands
and Edward Cassidy to establish diplomatic relations between the Vatican
and the state of Israel.
On the eve of the audience of Benedict XVI with the Rabbis of Israel,
after the firm condemnation on behalf of the Pope of every formal denial
or revisionism on the Shoah, following the declaration of the LeFebvrian
bishops, the Rabi expressed his great esteem for Pope Ratzinger.
What is the stage of the Hebrew-Christian dialogue?
“In
a certain sense we have gone through a period of stall. I can say that
Benedict XVI is well aware of the importance of the Hebrew-Christian
dialogue. In several circumstances, like his visit to Germany for the
2005 testifies, he has given a proof of his will to go on along the way
of his predecessors, particularly with his speech given in the
synagogue. I think that he has committed himself, with all his might,
to a sincere dialogue in reciprocal understanding. It is evident that
he is fond of a heartfelt and friendly bond with the Hebrews all over
the world, especially now that he is getting ready to visit the Middle
east: a visit that coincides with an uneasy moment for Israel, that
faces a new government, the situation of Gaza and the Palestinians.
I
think that the choice of visiting Israel today is the fruit of a
decision motivated by the desire of proving his sympathy for the State
of Israel. This is confirmed by the fact that, when he came to the
United States, he visited also a synagogue. John Paul II never visited
any synagogue abroad; he stepped only into the synagogue of Rome, on the
occasion of the historical visit in April 1986. He never accepted the
invitation of going to the synagogues of the cities abroad visited by
him through the years. On the contrary, Benedict XVI has always chosen
to enter the synagogues of the countries which he visited during his
apostolic journeys,
as a
proof of his desire of friendship with the Hebrew people. As far as
theology is concerned, we know quite well that he holds the Hebrew
religion as the indispensable premise of the Catholic one. His
commitment to the Hebrews is to be read in this key”.
From the dialogue viewpoint, which differences do you see between Pope
John Paul II and Benedict XVI?
“We
must keep in mind that Benedict XVI has, so far, been sitting on the
chair of Peter for only four years, while his predecessor has governed
the Catholic Church for almost 27 years. It is too soon to face this
question under all its aspects. Once made this premise, I think that the
German Pope has given proofs of esteem and gratitude for the Hebrews.
It is evident that he is aware of the contribution given by the Hebrew
people to humanity, exactly as John Paul II: this, however, had a more
friendly approach in facing the question.
What
I mean is that wherever he went, he met the representatives of the local
Israelite community; in Poland he had Hebrew friends; the apartment
where he lived with his father belonged to a Hebrew family. Even his
professors in the Polish university were Hebrews. He had developed a
deep knowledge of the Hebrew belonging and I became aware of this during
one of the many audiences, which he granted me. In the presence of eight
persons he told me that the Polish intellectual life was in the hands of
the Hebrews.
We
cannot say the same thing of Benedict XVI; Ratzinger has not had the
same type of formation; he was not linked to the Hebrews in the same
way, but like Wojtyla, he suffered the consequences of Nazism and his
family was against Nazism. He was a prisoner of war, the unique Pope of
recent history, and fled away from the Nazists army. Both of them have
much in common at this level.
I can
certainly say that Benedict XVI is a great friend of the Hebrews. When
He became Pontiff, he clearly said of wanting to go on along the journey
started by John Paul II, especially in the dialogue with the Hebrew
brothers. During his visit to Poland for the World Day of the Youth, he
wanted to meet the local community in the synagogue and expressed his
esteem for the Hebrews, quoting his predecessor. When he went for a
pilgrimage to Auschwitz, he re-marked the sufferings of the Hebrews
during the second World War. Recently, on the occasion of his journey to
the United States, he stopped in a synagogue of New York and wanted to
meet the delegation, in order to manifest his will of continuing the
previously begun dialogue. All these facts lead me to the conclusion
that Benedict XVI believes firmly in the strong bond that unites the
Hebrews to the Christians, a bond that cannot be broken.
However, I think that at theology level Benedict XVI diverges in his
thought from John Paul II in the way of facing the Muslim religion. The
Polish Pope did not see the question in the same way in which the German
Pontiff does. For instance, when Benedict XVI speaks of the Christian
roots of Europe and cautions the old continent against the dangers of
secularism, we find ourselves before a central question for his
pontificate. This point, was surely not absent from the priorities of
John Paul II, but it was not faced with the same urgency and at the
same level. The concept of a Christian Europe, which must not become
Muslim, is a central theme in the pontificate of Joseph Ratzinger. I
think that this is for the Pope a motive of considerable worry. In this
sense his pontificate is more difficult than that of his predecessor,
because we understand today how complex is te problem of the
inter-religious dialogue”.
During his visit to the United States last year, Pope Benedict XVI met
the Hebrew community. What of this journey impressed you and how has it
been seen by the Hebrew community?
“I
think that Benedict XVI said simply what John Paul II let our intuition
understand. In what sense?
During his first meeting with the Hebrew community in 1979, John Paul II
said that he would commit himself to a fruitful dialogue between Hebrews
and Catholics. But what many do not say is that he hoped in a reciprocal
understanding for a really constructive confrontation between the two
parts. I have been pondering these themes for more than thirty years and
I can say that the representatives of the Catholic Religion, perhaps
because of the Shoah and the Council document “Nostra Aetate”, have
carried on a primary role in this dialogue, favouring this aspect to
such an extent as to place at a second level the points which divide
them from the other Christians.
In
his first visit to Washington, John Paul II treasured up a point around
which I have often been asking myself for more than twenty years,
namely: How can I be faithful to my religion, without being unfaithful
to that of another? How can I make my faith to be known by a person of
different religion without betraying it?
This
is not a secondary point, because we are all interested on the faith of
the other, but in the dialogue we must speak explicitly also of our
religious faith. I think that it was good to say this.
"Pope
John Paul II will be remembered by the world’s Hebrew community as a
courageous innovating figure, who tried to heal the wounds of the past
more than any other Pope, and to cast bridges for the future of our two
religions. In my writings I have tried to bring to evidence the action
of the Polish Pope in favour of the Hebrews, to whom he felt to be
united with a special bond.
The journey of Benedict XVI to Israel and Jordanian is imminent and
takes place nine years after the journey of John Paul II on the occasion
of the 2000 Jubilee. What do you expect from this visit?
“To
me, Benedict XVI is a man of peace, a Pope who wants peace very much
strongly. I do appreciate very much his tentative to speak of peace in
an uneasy context, like that in the area of the Middle-East”.
|
