In 1986, Pope John Paul II made history by paying a visit to Rome’s Great Synagogue. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI visited that synagogue again. In 2016, Pope Francis visited for the third time. As our ancient rabbis were fond of saying — and as Rome’s current chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni pointed out during…
Pope Francis crossed the Tiber River to visit Rome’s Great Synagogue Sunday. His 1.5-mile journey to the towering Tempio Maggiore shows that what was once unthinkable is now the norm. “Our meeting,” Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said, “aims to convey a very topical, important and urgent message — that belonging to a faith,…
Vandals destroyed dozens of crosses at a cemetery in a Catholic monastery near Jerusalem. The Latin Patriarchate announced the damage on Saturday when it filed a police report, though the vandalism at the monastery in Beit Jamal reportedly occurred in December, according to reports. The cemetery near the city of Beit Shemesh, located west of…
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the new document on the conversion of Jews that the Vatican released December 10. Especially when you consider that most of the reporting on it is wrong. According to most headlines, the Vatican announced that “Catholics should not try to convert Jews.” That’s not what actually happened. What…
A New York City priest at the center of a sordid sex scandal resigned Saturday after outraged parishioners accused him of embezzling at least a million dollars in donations to, among other things, pay a male hustler for $1,000-a-session sadomasochistic encounters. Among Father Peter Miqueli’s kinky fantasies, according to , was being humiliated in front…
Catholics should not try to convert Jews and should work with them to fight anti-Semitism, the Vatican said on Thursday in a major document drawing the Church further away from the strained relations of the past. It was the latest move on a host of issues, such as gay rights and re-marriage, that the Vatican…
The film “Spotlight,” which chronicles The Boston’s Globe’s 2001 investigation into sexual abuse by priests in the city’s archdiocese, is about shake-ups and interlopers, about questioning beliefs and authority. These issues are raised by the film’s most powerful character, who receives a surprisingly small amount of screen time. Marty Baron, played by Liev Schreiber with…
Jewish leaders met with Pope Francis in Rome on the 50th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate, the declaration promulgated by Pope Paul VI that led to improved relations between Jews and Catholics. “Yes to the rediscovery of the Jewish roots of Christianity. No to anti-Semitism,” the pope said Wednesday morning during the public audience on…
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