Pope Francis treated a Jewish delegation from his native Argentina to a private lunch catered by one of Rome’s top kosher restaurants. On Thursday, proprietors of the restaurant Ba’ Ghetto brought Roman Jewish specialties to the Vatican, where the pope hosted the group of rabbis and Jewish leaders at the Santa Marta guesthouse, his residence….
Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he will visit Holy Land sites in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories in May, his first trip to the area as pontiff. The May 24-26 trip to Amman, Jerusalem and Bethlehem will mark the 50th anniversary of a landmark trip there by Pope Paul VI in 1964, the…
Well, another International Human Rights Day has come and gone. The December 10 holiday usually passes without much fanfare, but not this year. This year was pretty special. The holiday commemorates the adoption in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the landmark charter of worldwide freedoms. In…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Vatican audience with Pope Francis reportedly invited the pontiff to visit Israel. Netanyahu on Monday presented the pope with a book about the Spanish Inquisition written by his father, the late historian Benzion Netanyahu. No date has been set for a visit by Francis to Israel, Vatican spokesman Father…
The puffs of white smoke had barely cleared from above the Sistine Chapel before we started learning about Pope Francis I. We learned that Francis, 76, is a profoundly humble man who insists on carrying his own bags and riding the bus home. We also learned that he plans to bring a breath of fresh…
Pope Francis described the Jewish people as the “big brothers” of his Roman Catholic flock on Sunday in words of solidarity marking the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews and their property in Nazi Germany. Francis said the state-sponsored ransacking of Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues, on the night of Nov. 9, 1938,…
Pope Francis has continued to reach out to Jews, this time with a personal email to Menachem Z. Rosensaft, an American law professor who deals with Holocaust and genocide issues. Francis’s email was a reflection on the place of God during the Holocaust. It was, Elizabeth Tenety wrote in the Washington Post’s On Faith blog,…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet in Rome with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss talks with the Palestinians and Iran. Kerry will meet Oct. 23 with Netanyahu to “discuss ongoing final status negotiations with the Palestinians, along with Iran, Syria, and other issues of mutual concern,” a State Department release said…
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