Pope to Visit Rome Synagogue in First Such Mission; New Era in Relations Seen

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican announced Monday that Pope John Paul II will visit the ancient Jewish community of the synagogue of Rome next month in what would be the first-ever visit of a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Jewish place of worship.

“I can inform you that next April 13 in the afternoon the holy father will visit the synagogue of Rome,” Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls told reporters. He gave no other details.

But Tullia Zevi, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, said it was the Pope who “expressed the wish to visit a synagogue, and the community gladly accepted.”

Zevi added: “This may be the start of a new era in relations between Christians and Jews.”

During the visit, the Pope and Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff probably will exchange messages and may recite psalms, but any kind of co-celebration is unlikely because the synagogue is Orthodox, he said.

‘Dignity and Legitimacy’

“It will be very important to see what kind of message the Pope will convey,” Zevi said. “I would hope that this would be a meeting between spiritual leaders of two great monotheistic religions of equal dignity and legitimacy.”

In Israel, Nissim Yaish, former head of the international affairs department of the Religious Affairs Ministry, said he was moved by the announcement that the Pope will make the historic visit.

“This is a moving gesture. It is a historical gesture, which must be appreciated properly. It is the first time a Pope troubles himself to visit a synagogue. This is a very meaningful and moving thing,” he said.

Vatican sources also said that the visit will be the first by a Pope to a synagogue, but they pointed out that John Paul has on many occasions met with Jewish leaders and has denounced anti-Semitism.

The Jewish community of Rome, numbering about 16,000 members, is the oldest in continuous existence in the West, tracing its origins to 139 BC. Many Roman Jews still live around the synagogue in the ghetto to which they were confined from 1555 to 1848. Another 15,000 Jews reside elsewhere in Italy.

No Change on Ties

Vatican sources said the visit to the Jewish community does not mark a change in the Vatican’s position toward Israel.

The Vatican, which strongly supports Israel’s right to exist, has said it would like to see changes in the Mideast situation before it could establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Catholic-Jewish relations have improved enormously in the 20 years since a major Second Vatican Council document urged dialogue with the Jews and strongly repudiated the idea of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus.

In his many addresses to Jewish groups, the Pope has urged that Catholics and Jews continue to work together to rediscover their ancient spiritual bonds and to eliminate fear and ignorance between them.

Although Catholic-Jewish dialogue has been fruitful since the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the issue of diplomatic relations with Israel has remained an outstanding problem.

Palestinian Question

Some Catholic and Jewish groups have urged the Pope to establish relations with Israel, saying such a move would be a major contribution to peace in the Middle East.

But the unresolved Palestinian question and the status of the Jerusalem, which Israel declared as its capital in 1980, are major obstacles.

The Pope supports a Palestinian homeland and wants Jerusalem to have an international statute to protect it as a city sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews.