The Word : Jews Urge Papal Boycott

Major U.S. Jewish groups are calling on Jews around the world to boycott meetings with Pope John Paul II because the Vatican has failed to remove a convent from the site of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, the World Jewish Congress announced. The U.S. section of the congress, which represents 34 American groups, adopted a resolution saying the boycott is “an expression of anguish and moral distress” at the Roman Catholic Church’s failure to comply with a 1987 agreement that would remove the Carmelite convent to grounds outside the extermination camp in Poland. Vatican officials recently said that a site has been chosen for a new convent, but a Jewish congress delegation that visited the area in January said it found no evidence of construction.