Pope Francis: ' A Christian
cannot be an anti-Semite'
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| Pope Francis prays at the memorial to the Victims of the Ghetto in Vilnius, Lithuania.- AFP |
Pope Francis received a delegation from the ancient
community of Mountain Jews to discuss Holocaust anniversaries and the problems
of Anti-Semitism today.
By John Waters
Pope Francis on Monday held a meeting with
representatives of the World Congress of Mountain Jews. It is the
first time that a delegation from this community, which dates back to the 5th Century,
has travelled to meet a Pope.
Past and present
Mountain Jews were descended from the Persian Jews, who came
from modern day Iran. They were known to be great warriors and horsemen in the
past. They lived in mountainous communities near the Caspian Sea for many
centuries but, after the fall of the Soviet Union, are now spread across many
regions, with the largest communities living in Russia and Azerbaijan.
The Pope began by recalling his most recent meeting with a
Jewish community during his visit to Lithuania in September. That visit
commemorated the Seventy Fifth anniversary of the destruction of the Jewish
ghetto in the Lithuanian capital city, Vilnius.
Holocaust anniversaries
Pope Francis pointed out that a number of other Holocaust
related anniversaries are fast approaching. He mentioned the anniversaries of
the raid on the Jewish ghetto in Rome and the anniversary of increased
persecution of German Jews by the Nazi’s. The latter used to be known as the
‘night of broken glass’, due to the destruction of many Jewish shop fronts and
synagogues, though more recently historians have preferred terms referring to
the destruction of people and lives.
“The attempt to replace the God of goodness with the
idolatry of power and the ideology of hatred ended in the folly of
exterminating human beings. Consequently, religious freedom is a supreme good
to be safeguarded, a fundamental human right and a bulwark against the claims
of totalitarianism” he said.
About one and a half thousand Mountain Jews were killed
during the Holocaust, mostly from Crimea. Most of the community was not
affected by the Holocaust, partly because Nazi forces did not reach their
territories and partly because the Nazis considered them to be religious Jews,
rather than racial Jews, who were a higher priority target for the Nazi regime.
Anti-Semitic attitudes
The Pope went on to note that there are still anti-Semitic
attitudes in society today: “As I have often repeated, a Christian cannot be an
anti-Semite; we share the same roots. It would be a contradiction of
faith and life. Rather, we are called to commit ourselves to ensure
anti-Semitism is banned from the human community”.
Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, Pope Francis called on all
religions to help the world “Turn spears into pruning hooks” so that
communities may experience a period of patient reconciliation. He ended his
speech with a traditional Hebrew blessing: Shalom Aleichem!
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