Pope Francis has called on Catholics and Jews to pray for “peace and reconciliation” in the Holy Land and all places in the world affected by conflict and terrorism.
Interrupted repeatedly by applause at Rome’s main synagogue on Sunday, the Pope said the Church “recognises the irrevocability of the Old Covenant and the constant and faithful love of God for Israel”.
That statement, which he made in his 2013 exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, was repeated in a recent document by the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.
The document reaffirmed Benedict XVI’s teaching that the Church “neither conducts nor supports” any institutional missionary initiative directed towards Jews.
The Pope’s visit featured an exchange of standing ovations. The congregation greeted the Pope on their feet and bid him farewell the same way; he stood and applauded with everyone else when honour was paid to a handful of Holocaust survivors present for the event. “Their sufferings, anguish and tears must never be forgotten,” the Pope said. “And the past must be a lesson to us for the present and the future. The Shoah teaches us that maximum vigilance is always needed in order to intervene quickly in defence of human dignity and peace.”
Pope Francis was the third Pope to visit the Rome synagogue, after St John Paul II in 1986 and Benedict XVI in 2010. Citing “the unbreakable bond between Jews and Christians”, Pope Francis said: “Violence against men is in contradiction with any religion worthy of the name.”
Gender guidance for schools is ‘totalitarian’, says bishop
A Canadian bishop has said guidance for schools on how to deal with gay and transgender pupils is “totalitarian” and ‘‘anti-Catholic”. Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary made the intervention in a pastoral letter following the issuing of draft guidelines by the state of Alberta.
The guidance says transgender students should be allowed to use the toilet of their choice depending on whether they perceive themselves to be a girl or a boy. It also states that students should be allowed to dress and play on sports teams according to the same principle.
“Totalitarianism is alive and well in Alberta,” Bishop Henry wrote. “This approach and directive smack of the madness of relativism and the forceful imposition of a particular, narrow-minded, anti-Catholic ideology and must be rejected.”
He suggested that this approach “does not allow for any differing opinion. In no way does it differ from an attitude of ‘Shut up’ or ‘Don’t get involved’.”
The aim of his intervention, he told the Brandon Sun, was to protect children, especially vulnerable children. “Men and women should respect and accept their sexual identity.”
Rome’s homeless go to circus
The poor, the homeless, refugees and some prisoners were offered a treat by the Vatican last week: a circus show. The papal almoner’s office announced that the Rony Roller Circus in Rome had made 2,000 seats in its big top available for a free show. Doctors and nurses were on hand to offer free check-ups.
The papal almoner said the gift could be “an encouragement for our poorer brothers and sisters to overcome the hardships that … seem insurmountable”.
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