Francis is onboard with the noahide program of The Elijah Interfaith Institute

Francis and his Talmudic handler, Abraham Skorka

This video was made under the auspices of The Elijah Interfaith Institute.  This institute was founded in 1996 by the the crypto-haredi rabbi, Alon Goshen-Gottstein who specializes in Talmud, Jewish thought, and interreligious dialogue; and is financed by the the UNESCO agency of the United Nations.  It is headquartered in Jerusalem and its purpose is to make good noahides out of all the myriad of religions in the world.  They believe that all idol-worship (including what passes for Christianity today) is okay as long as it is subordinate to Talmudic Judaism.  The Elijah Interfaith Institute is also heavily into mysticism and the occult.

Notice in the video the mentions of:

• dialogue — the code word for the one-way street with the Novus Ordo goose-stepping to the dictates of the Talmudic Jews;

• criticism of authority — in the Talmudic religion this means correcting God’s errors;
  

• ongoing projects of Francis & Skorka;

• Francis learned to be a better Catholic through dialogue — study of the blasphemous Talmud and satanic Kabbalah;

• encounter — two facets of which were explained so well by the triple agent con-man, Malachi Martin, this means inviting rabbis to teach their false doctrines at Catholic schools and destroy Roman Catholic Hebraeophobia;

• Martin Buber — Hasidic philosopher and immanentist;

• Emmanuel Lévinas — who advocated reading the Bible through a Talmudic lenses;

• Francis has preached in Skorka’s synagogue twice — put on your surprise face, as Francis regularly celebrates Talmudic holidays;

• Francis’ friendship with Skorka made him richer because the rabbi explained the answers to his religious questions — Francis mentions specifically, revelation;

• the pair are a model of where dialogue can take one — straight to apostasy!;

• they believe God is responsible for their friendship and dialogue; and

• neither one of them has attempted to convert the other one — Francis doesn’t need to convert, as he’s a walking talking blasphemous rabbi who is regularly uttering heresies.

This video and the remaining twenty produced by The Elijah Interfaith Institute are anti-Catholic in the highest sense of the word.  Taken together they preach a form of gnostic perennialism under the umbrella of the rabbinic talmudists.  This goes against what Francis is supposed to be representing on earth as the ‘Vicar of Christ’.

“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

source: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians 6, 14-18

Let’s return for a few minutes to The Elijah Interfaith Institute.  The name of the institute is a very interesting one.  For Catholics, in the Old Testament (see Kings) the prophet Elias was opposed to idol worship and the prophets of Baal.  Talmudic Judaism sees Elijah in quite a different manner.

Talmudists believe that Elijah witnesses the bris (brit milah or circumcision) the seal of the old covenant (which has been superseded by the New Covenant).

“Since medieval times, when a brit milah is performed, a chair is set aside for Elijah, the “Angel of the Covenant,” who is believed to be present at every brit milah.”

source: Geoffrey W. Dennis, “The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism” e-book, p. 119

He also makes an ‘appearance’ at the anti-Christian Seder Meal:

Another ritual involving cursing the Gentiles is the famous custom of reciting "Pour Out Thy Wrath" (Shefokh hamatkha) at the Passover seder ... It's earliest mention appears in Mahzor Vitry ... This section of the [Passover] Haggadah is understood by the participants as closely connected with the future Redemption. Opening the door to the prophet Elijah in tandem with the prayer for vengeance signifies a connection between vengeance against the Gentiles and the appearance of the Messiah. It should also be noted that this section of the Haggadah is recited as an introduction to the fourth and last cup of wine, the cup of deliverance ...

[...]

The messianic content of "Pour Out Thy Wrath" was illustrated in illuminated Ashkenazic Haggadot through pictures depicting the Messiah riding on a donkey with Elijah by his side, proclaiming his coming. [Antonius] Margarita ... relates the popular Jewish exegesis of the Messiah's donkey ...

I think that I myself sincerely believed the lies told below. Blessed be God and the Holy Spirit, who saved me from such and other errors. According to the lies of the Jews, when the Messiah comes he will ride upon an ass and seat all Jews upon the ass, while all Christians will sit on the ass's tail. Then the Messiah will ride with all his passengers into the sea, and when he comes to the depths of the sea, the donkey will drop its tail and all the Christians will fall into the sea and drown. And indeed, this will have to be a very big ass. But an even bigger ass is a person who believes such things! (Antonius Margarita, Ein kurner Bericht und Anzaigung [Wien, 1541], fol. IIv).

source: Two Nations in Your Womb - Israel Jacob Yuval, pp.123-125

Talmudists believe that Elijah teaches that non-Jews don’t have souls:

source: The Talmud, The Steinsaltz Edition, Tractate Bava Metzia 114b

Elijah announces to the rabbis that they have defeated God:

...when Rabbi Yehoshua refused to heed the heavenly voice. Elijah the Prophet responded, “God smiled and said, ‘My sons have defeated me! My sons have defeated me!’” In Hebrew, the echoing sentence is “Nitzjuni banai! Nitzjuni banai!”

source: The Common, Talmudic Lesson: God’s Smile

The Talmudic rabbis teach that Elijah blamed God for Israel’s apostasy and God thought Elijah correct:

source: Pious Irreverence: Confronting God in Rabbinic Judaism by Dov Weiss, p. 70

Elijah is thought to be the teacher of secret doctrines (Kabbalah) to the rabbis:

The mystics and cabalists of all times frequently appealed to Elijah as their patron. Among them was the gaon Joseph, of whom it was said that Elijah was a daily visitor at his academy (First Epistle of Sherira, ed. Neubauer, p. 32). The introduction of the Cabala to Provence is traced directly to Elijah, who revealed the secret doctrine to Jacob ha-Nozer. Similarly Abraham b. Isaac and Abraham ben David of Posquières are mentioned as privileged ones, to whom Elijah appeared (see Jellinek, "Auswahl Kabbalistischer Mystik," pp. 4, 5). The pseudonymous author of the "Ḳanah" asserted that he had received his teachings directly from Elijah. In the Zohar, Simon ben Yoḥai and his son Eleazar are mentioned as among those who enjoyed the special friendship of Elijah. This work, as well as the Tiḳḳun Zohar and the Zohar Ḥadash, contains muchthat is ascribed to Elijah (compare Friedmann, "Seder Eliyahu Rabba we-Seder Eliyahu Zuṭa," pp. 38-41). When, toward the middle of the fourteenth century, the Cabala received new prominence in Palestine, Elijah again took a leading part. Joseph de la Regna asks Elijah's advice in his combat with Satan. The father of the new cabalistic school, Isaac Luria, was visited by Elijah before his son was born. In like manner, the father of Israel Ba'al Shem-Ṭob received the good news from Elijah that a son would be born unto him, "who would be a light in Israel" ("Ma'asiyyot Peliot," pp. 24, 25, Cracow, 1896, which contains an interesting narrative of Elijah's meeting with the father of Ba'al Shem-Ṭob).

source: Jewish Encylopedia (1906), Volume 5, pp. 125-6, entry ELIJAH ()

We could go on but we believe the reader has an idea of what the Elijah of the Talmudic Jews represents and that he has little to do with the prophet Elias of the Old Testament.  Is it beginning to sink in how bad Francis and his rabbinical buddies are?

Below are the religious leaders who made videos for The Elijah Interfaith Institute.  It’s a motley crew of anti-Christs who all long to see the contrivances of the Talmudic rabbis implemented through the nightmare of noahidism.

Grand Mufti Shawki Allam Ven. Chân Không H.H. the Dalai Lama Swami Chidananda Dharma Master Hsin Tao Pope Francis Chief Rabbi David Lau Ven. Khandro Rinpoche Swami Suhitananda Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Rabbi Abraham Skorka

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) Ayatollah Sayyid Fadhel Al-Milani Imam Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya Ayatollah Sayyid Hassan Al-Qazwini Archbishop Antje Jackelén Archbishop Justin Welby Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Swami Ramdev

Excerpts from the above mentioned videos.

‘Rabbi’ Bergoglio frequented the synagogues on Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Chanukkah

Jorge at home in the synagogue.

Both Jorges [Bergoglio & Kirzsenbaum, the president of DAIA] shook hands, and the cardinal said to the Jewish leader: "You will be our brothers in the faith, but you are our son" ... Kirzsenbaum looked at him in disarray and with a mischievous smile Bergoglio clarified : "You are not from Boca, you? Well, guess what block (neighborhood) I am ..." Any possible tension that could have been generated was diluted with the football reference to his status as a fan of St. Lawrence, since yesterday Pope Francis I. After breakfast at the AMIA, the prelate went to the Belgrano neighborhood - along with Kirzsenbaum and other leaders - to see a sample of Maimonides (the first exegete of the Torah to study the Holy Scriptures from Aristotelian logic) at the Larreta Museum.

Over the years, Bergoglio has not hidden his love and closeness with the Jewish people. In jest, with a mixture of affection and admiration, many parishioners from the temples he frequented for the High Holidays (Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kipppur) and for Hanukkah (which usually coincides with Christmas) called him "Rabbi Bergoglio". Belgrano, as it is known, houses the largest concentration of synagogues in the country.

Two of them had Bergoglio comes as a regular visitor. One, NCI Emanu-el, at Arcos Street; the other, Benei Tikvá, in Vidal Street. The Great Temple of Freedom Street also had him concurrently obliged in the festivities of the Jewish New Year and the Day of the Forgiveness. In the last celebration of Chanukah, the Feast of Luminaries (where they light candles of a nine-limbed candlestick to recall a miracle that has to do with light), Bergoglio, flanked by rabbis Sergio Bergman and Ale Avruj, was invited to light the candle corresponding to the fifth day of the celebration. "Chanukah is united in a symbol with Christmas and it is the symbol of the light, since in the story of the birth of Jesus, the angels announced the presence of the light, So the light is on both festivals.

In the case of Chanukah, it has a very specific historical meaning, but it also projects forward and gives rise to its own lights", Bergoglio explained to the parishioners gathered that afternoon-night. His closeness and friendship with Bergman (who officiates at Libertad) is as strong as the one he maintains with Abraham Skorka, of the temple of Vidal, located in a position opposite to that of today's legislator by the PRO (Propuesta Republicana, the right wing party in Argentina), at least as far as the internal community is concerned.

With "Abi" Skorka, (Jorge) shared a cable program and they are co-authors of the book "On heaven and earth", a compilation of dialogues between both religious.

Yesterday Skorka fell in praise for his friend and declared to the Jewish News Agency that he is "the pope which Christianity needs". Perhaps he was carried away by enthusiasm, and went into naturally forbidden waters for religious of other confessions.

However, what Skorka surely wanted to do was to reflect the joyful joy of the Argentine Jewish community which was caused by the selection of Bergoglio as the head of the Catholic Church. Because of his double status as an Argentine and a proud friend of the Jews.

source: Euro Mundo Global, Para la comunidad judía el nuevo papa es un rabino más

More on the humble ‘rabbi’:

• Rabbi Francis

• Francis & Yom Kippur

• Rabbi Bergman & the Great Rabbi Bergoglio

• Francis wishes, ‘Happy Talmudic Holidays to All!’

Brainwashing the Novus Ordo noahides with Nostra Aetate

Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Rabbi Walter Jacob, Rabbi Alvin Berkun, Sister Mary Boys, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Dr. Patricia Sharbaugh, and Rabbi Jason Edelstein at Saint Vincent College

Assisi V

Listen to the Talmudists gloat about how the Novus Ordo shares the same goals as their rabbis and then chastise those [Catholics] who don’t want to dialogue and change [become noahides].  As usual Francis says the opposite of what he does and promotes the kabbalistic ‘Tikkun Olam’ with prayer to false gods.

Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.

— Gospel According to Saint John 14, 6 —

Francis was excited to see Rabbi Skorka, his best buddy and rabbinical handler today.

 It’s not like they saw each other at the Vatican a week ago!

On 13 September 2016, Shimon Peres had a massive stroke, was admitted to the hospital, and was put into a medically induced coma.  As luck would have it, news of this event spread quickly to the Vatican where lo and behold Francis’ best buddy from Argentina happened to have stopped by for a visit.  Francis wasted little time in hastily organizing an interreligious prayer session with Rabbi Skorka “for strength for the [Peres] family and for a full recovery.”  How do we know this?  We know it because after the conclusion of the interreligious prayer session, Francis sat down and composed a letter to Shimon Peres informing him of what he had just done.  Peres’ office further told the Israeli press that Francis prayed, “a special prayer for Peres along with Rabbi Abraham Skorka of Argentina. They prayed together and asked to convey their warm well-wishes and prayers for a speedy and full recovery.”  Francis had last seen Shimon Peres when he dropped in for a visit in May 2016.  On an earlier visit in September 2014, Peres proposed to Francis that he head up a interfaith interreliggious organization, a United Nations of Religion “to combat terrorists who kill in the name of faith.” If this comes to fruition get ready for a lot more illegal immigrants in Europe and Francis giving out spiritual hugs in the name of combating terrorism.

Shimon Peres, the Nobel Peace Prize winning ex-President of Israel and 

terrorist mastermind who Francis and Skorka were praying for.

Who is Shimon Peres?  He was born in Wiszniew, Poland on 2 August 1923 as Szymon Perski to a Haredi family.  At the age of eleven his family joined his father in Palestine (under British Mandate) whom had immigrated there two years earlier.  He is a militant hard-liner Zionist who believes in using violence and terrorism to accomplish his political goals which often entail using this same terrorism to influence the Western governments of the world into supporting Israel’s long-term strategic goals.  Peres has served as :

• Minister of 12 Cabinets in a 66 year political career,

• Deputy Director-General of Defense (1952),

• Director-General of Defense (1953-1959),

• Knesset member (1959-2007) under five political parties (Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labor and Kadima),

• President of Israel (2007-2014),

• Prime Minister of Israel (1977, 1984-1986, 1995-1996),

• Minister of Foreign Affairs (1986-1988, 1992-1995, 2001-2002)

• Minister of Defense (1974-1977, 1995-1996)

• Minister of Finance (1988-1990), and

• Minister of Transportation (1970-1974).

Before the creation of Israel, Peres:  founded Kibbutz Alumot, later moved to and served as Secretary of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed a socialist-Zionist kibbutz, returned to Kibbutz Alumot where he served also as Secretary,  scouted off-limits areas of Palestine for the upcoming war, was a member of Haganah—a Zionist paramilitary terrorist organization where he was in charge of purchasing arms for them in their war of occupying Palestine and the creation of Israel, and served as one of the Mapai political party’s delegates to the Zionist Congress in Basel in 1946.

Peres who was the secretary general of the defense ministry in 1954 was responsible for the Lavon Affair.  The Lavon Affair was an Israeli convert operation in which Egyptian Jews supported by Israel’s intelligence service planted bombs in Egyptian, American, and British-owned civilian targets, such as cinemas, libraries and American educational centers.  These crimes were  false-flag attacks as they were blamed on the Moslem Brotherhood and Communists.  Besides the Lavon Affair, Peres was also instrumental in planning the 1954 Suez War (an invasion of Egypt by Israel).  He was an early supporter of the illegal West Bank settlements, and was the architect of Israel’s nuclear program which has been used by Israeli leaders to threaten the world with nuclear blackmail (the Sampson Option).  All indications lead one to strongly suspect that Shimon Peres also played an important role in the attacks on September 11th, 2001.   Laughably, this terrorist received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

Now that you know who Peres is, remember Francis was praying with a Talmudic-Jewish rabbi for Peres’ family and Peres’ full recovery in the Vatican.  Never in their past meetings has Francis tried to convert Peres to the Catholic Faith nor has he chastised him for being a terrorist.  As usual Francis shows no regard for anyone’s soul.  Francis seems to genuinely like the old terrorist because he shares the same long-term goals as Peres.  After all, it was under the invitation of Henrique Cymerman and Shimon Peres which Francis visited Israel in 2014.  See our past posts, linked below, which detail some of the projects Francis and Shimon Peres have collaborated on.

• the triumph of Theodor Herzl

• Whew!!! Francis is back up to full speed!

• Blasphemies in Francis' book, Rome and Jerusalem: Rabbi Talks with Pope

• Birds of a feather flock together

Francis was so very happy to push the Noahide new world order agenda with Skorka in Assisi!

Francis’ rabbinical buddies publishing new book

 The announcement announcing El Concilio Vaticano II y Los Judíos (The Second Vatican Council and the Jews).

 get the book at Latin American Rabbinical Seminary's website

The book, El Concilio Vaticano II y los judíos: 50 años de diálogo Judeo Cristiano relatado desde sus líderes (The Second Vatican Council and the Jews: 50 years of Judeo Christian dialogue told from their leaders), edited by rabbi Abraham Skorka and rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher is being published the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary.  It includes a small selection of writings from Talmudic Jews and Novus Ordo modernists including; 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio-Jorge Maria Mejia-Abraham Skorka-Norberto Padilla-Carlos Escudé (Nachman ben Avraham Avinu) -Joseph Miguez Bonino-Yattah-Celina Lértora Ernesto Mendoza-Daniel Goldman-Carlos Cerda-Alejandro Ariel Bloch-Stofenmacher-Victor Manuel Fernandez Marcelo Polakoff-José María Arancedo-Mario Rojzman-Rafael Braun-Mario Hendler-Guillermo Bronstein-Michel Schlesinger-Leandro Tomchinsky Galanternik-Shmuel Szteinhendler

 Look it’s rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher the co-editor of the book.

Here's rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher, on 25 May 2016, in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos aires Argentina commemorating the founding of Argentina with a Te Deum. From left to right: Kissag Archbishop Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Argentina, rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, sheikh Abdelnaby Elfhefnawy, Imam of the mosque El-Ahmed, Ruben Proietti, president of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of Argentina, and Undersecretary of Cult of the Nation, Alfredo Abriani.

Francis is the noahide kosher buddy of rabbis Ariel Stofenmacher and Abraham Skorka.

the Bergoglio Follies

Refining his shtick from Jorge to Francis

 the dress rehearsal

on the world's stage

Francis' rabbi, Abraham Skorka, weighs in on the the ‘humble’ bishop of Rome's upcoming trip to the Great Synagogue of Rome

(Call Me Jorge...'s note: underlines in the interview are ours for emphasis.)

Two revolutionary buddies for life, Skorka and Bergoglio.

Skorka on Pope's visit to Synagogue of Rome and how he is fostering Jewish-Christian relations

Interview with the Argentinian rabbi, a friend of Francis '' Bergoglio had a very special bond with the Jewish community. His contribution is a call to build on dialogue through exegetical and theological studies, while at the same time reinforcing the commitment towards a common effort in making the world a fairer and more just place "

Andrea Tornielli for La Stampa, 15 January 2016, Vatican City

Pope Francis is the first Pope in the Roman Catholic Church to have published a book containing lengthy conversations with a rabbi, before His election. Abraham Skorka, the 65-year-old rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, became a great friend of the then archbishop Bergoglio. On Sunday 17 January the Pope will visit the Synagogue of Rome, the great Jewish temple that stands beyond the Tiber, a short distance from the Vatican. This will be the third time a Bishop of Rome enters the Synagogue, following John Paul II's historic visit in 1986 and that of his successor Benedict XVI, in 2010. 

Rabbi Skórka, what was Archbishop Bergoglio's relationship with Argentina's Jewish community like? How did you come to write a book on your conversation together? 
“The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio, had a very special bond with the Argentinian Jewish community, demonstrated in numerous gestures, with which he expressed in profound commitment to relations with it and through it with Judaism as a whole. He forged some very deep and fond relationships like the one between us. This friendship, which grew through various encounters, in the sense Buber usually attributed to this term, allowed us to speak freely, without euphemisms. And so we wrote a book of conversations together, offering a joint analysis of the issues that are of greatest concern to mankind today. We went on to produce 31 television programmes with Marcelo Figueroa.”

What was the distinguishing feature - if any - in Francis' approach to the dialogue with Jewish faithful? And what are the elements of continuity with his predecessors?
“On the one hand, Francis has continued the process of dialogue between Jews and Catholics begun by John XXIII and significantly furthered by John Paul II. At the same time, though, he left His own imprint on the development of this dialogue. If we take a close look at the Evangelii Gaudium chapter on relations with Judaism (247-249) , we see that, just as John Paul II and Benedict XVI viewed the Jewish people as their “elder brothers” in the faith and the eternal validity of the Alliance between Israel and God, described in the Jewish Bible, so the current Pope reserves a special place for them in his apostolic exhortation. Despite the fact the first articles in the aforementioned chapter emphasise only the teachings of his predecessors, the final paragraph mentions what Francis has to say on the subject. ‘God continues to act through the people of the Ancient Alliance and brings forth treasures of wisdom that derive from its encounter with the divine Word.  As such the Church too is enriched by the values ​​of Judaism... There is a rich complementarity that allows us to read the texts of the Jewish Bible and help each other to explore the Word’s riches’. In Buenos Aires we analysed verses from the Jewish Bible together on many occasions. It was a fundamental part of our dialogue. As Bergoglio was Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, the institution awarded me an honoris causa degree. The intention of this gesture was very clear: to honor and take into consideration the cultural and religious contribution of a rabbi in a majority Christian society. Francis’ contribution in his call to build on dialogue through exegetical and theological study while at the same time reinforcing the commitment towards a common effort in making the world a fairer and more just place. We are at the start of a journey that is taking us in this direction. This journey requires a great deal of reflection and intellectual and spiritual digging, as well as a compromise in the face of the big dramas affecting humanity at present.

How do you interpret the history of Catholic-Jewish relations over the past 60years? Which was the path chosen by John XXIII? And what contribution did John Paul II make?
“John XXIII could see very clearly that Europe and the world was entering a new phase after World War Two, which called for a response and a message from the religions. So he laid the foundations for the Second Vatican Council. Having witnessed the tragedy of the Holocaust first hand and having saved the lives of many Jews as an apostolic delegate in Constantinople, he strove to do something about the lack of dialogue - which frequently implies hatred - between Jews and Christians and reverse this situation . In the new world that was to be built, that stain of blood and death needed to be removed. The Nostra Aetate was the consequence of the great work he did in this field. This declaration acted as a catalyst for dialogue Jews and Christians engaged in on different levels. The process progressed through the subsequent declarations made ​​by the Vatican commission for dialogue with Judaism. John Paul II was the second great advocate of the process’s continuity and development. His request for forgiveness for the mistakes the Church had made in relation to the Jewish people in the past, His historic visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome, the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the State of Israel, the prayers he said at the (Western, Ed.) Wall are all signs that will shed his light on Jewish-Christian relations forevermore.”

John Paul II's visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome in 1986 was a historic event. What recollection do you have of it? What can you say about Benedict XVI and his very deep theological reflections on the special relationship between Judaism and Christianity?
“Both of the events you mentioned in your question were watershed moments in the history of the development of Jewish-Christian relations, for which the Nostra Aetate was a blueprint. John Paul II ended a painful chapter in the history of Rome because dialogue and respect had been lacking in relations between Rome’s Jews and the city’s bishop, the Pope. Walking at a normal peace, it takes about twenty minutes to get from the Vatican to the Great Temple of Rome. And yet it took centuries before a Pope made ​​that journey. The embrace between John Paul II and Rabbi Elio Toaff at the start of the visit will remain imprinted in people’s minds as an sign of understanding and dialogue for Jews and Catholics and an example for all humanity. In the same way, Benedict XVI’s theological reflection on the special bond between Judaism and Christianity, repairs a historic rift, laying the foundations for closer relations and mutual recognition, in order to allow Jews and Christians to dig deeper into their origins and genuinely reinforce their identity, each doing Their bit, together, to improve relations.”

A new Vatican document published last month states that “the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews”, because its relationshipwith them is different than with any other faith. What is your take on this?
“Ever since the approval of the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate, dignitaries of the Church on a number of occasions demonstrated that the Church would not be carrying out any evangelical action or mission with the Jewish people as it had done on a dramatic scale in the past. But the document “The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable” made ​​this clear officially. It was thus that a very painful chapter in Jewish-Christian relations was closed. Just a stone’s throw away from the square where Rome’s Jewish ghetto was - the square reminds its inhabitants that this is where the journey to the Nazi concentration camps began - there is a church with a frontispiece that quotes verse 65, 2 of the Book of Isaiah, “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people”. During the Middle Ages they would compulsively Jews gather in this church - I have been told this by experts on Jewish history in Rome - all of them ghetto inhabitants, to make them listen to the missionary preaching of Christian clerics. The Church’s latest document puts a definitive end to these stories that are part of a sad past.”

Related:

• honorary doctorate for Rabbi Skorka

• Francis' rabbi (Skorka) dictates Vatican thought

Skorka leads and Francis follows!

Francis' noahide religion of holocaustianity

Recall in our previous post, the 'Oral' Nostra Aetate, Rabbi Noah Marans explains to his listeners that Nostra Aetate and the actions of the post-Vatican II pontiffs such as; visiting synagogues, taking trips to Israel, participating in Talmudic Jewish religious rituals, constant Talmudic-Vatican dialogue, and inviting rabbis to the Vatican are the Catholic religion's Oral Torah or Talmud. The Talmud, need we remind the reader, is rabbis nullifying God's Laws. So using logic, one should expect Francis to nullify the traditions of the Faith given to us by Jesus the Christ as well as the New Testament.

quotes taken from: AJC, The Pope Francis Effect and Catholic-Jewish Relations by Noam E. Marans

In evaluating the trajectory of Catholic-Jewish Relations in the Pope Francis era, one picture is worth a thousand words. Pope Francis has identified Marc Chagall’s White Crucifixion as one of his favorite paintings. In the aftermath of Kristallnacht in 1938, when hundreds of European synagogues were torched, foreshadowing greater evil yet to come, Chagall artistically interpreted the threat of Nazism within the continuum of anti-Semitism. A “Jewish Jesus” is on the cross, wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) loincloth and surrounded by scenes of persecuted and fleeing Jews. A synagogue and its Torah scrolls are engulfed in flames, torched by a Nazi brownshirt. Using conflicting imagery, Chagall delivers his warning: the Jews who were persecuted as Christ-killers are now crucified as Jesus the Jew once was.  

Pope Francis did not hesitate to publicly herald a painting featuring a syncretistic “Jewish Jesus” that certainly has the potential to offend, notwithstanding the facts of Jesus’ historic Jewishness and the painter’s Jewish identity. It speaks volumes about Francis’ empathy with the Jewish people and lack of concern that his admiration for the painting might be controversial or misinterpreted. And the absence of negative reaction from the Jewish community to Francis’ fondness for this painting demonstrates a Jewish comfort level with this pope that may be unique. Certainly, Francis’ interest in the painting suggests the significant role that the trauma of the Holocaust plays in his theological and interreligious thinking.

Pope Francis enjoys well-documented positive relationships with Argentinian-Jewish leaders, particularly rabbis. He publicly celebrates his friendship with Rabbi Abraham Skorka. Their rabbi–priest conversations, part of a television series, were adapted into the one and only book, On Heaven and Earth, authored by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future pope, before his ascent to the papacy. 

There is no papal precedent for the frequency and intensity of Francis’ engagement with the Jewish people through meetings, gestures, and formal and informal pronouncements and teachings. On the day of his election he initiated a warm exchange with the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Dr. Riccardo Di Segni. At his installation a few days later, the pope singled out for welcome the Jewish leaders in attendance with the phrase, “the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities.”

In Francis’ characteristic yet remarkable interaction with Eugenio Scalfari, the self-described non-believer and co-founder and former editor of La Republica, the pope wrote,

With the help of God, especially since the Second Vatican Council, we have rediscovered that the Jewish people remain for us the holy root from which Jesus was born.... As my mind turned to the terrible experience of the Shoah, I looked to God. What I can tell you, with Saint Paul, is that God has never neglected his faithfulness to the covenant with Israel, and that, through the awful trials of these last centuries, the Jews have preserved their faith in God. And for this, we, the Church and the whole human family, can never be sufficiently grateful to them. 

In a letter to La Republica, Chief Rabbi Di Segni, who is known to set cautious limits to interreligious dialogue, wrote, “This pontiff does not cease to surprise.” While acknowledging that Francis’ sentiments are not new to the Catholic Church, Di Segni nonetheless exclaimed, “It is the force with which he expresses them and his capacity of communicating them that is astounding.” The profound truth in this observation is applicable as well to Pope Francis’ wider ability to resuscitate the Church. Without minimizing the positive content of the pope’s statements, it is often the way he says things more than the content of his utterances that has brought a new spirit to the Church. 

Beginning with his first audience at the Vatican with representatives of the international Jewish community, when Pope Francis greeted an International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) delegation, he has repeatedly characterized Christian anti-Semitism as both sinful and absurd. In the official Vatican English translation of his June 24, 2013 address in Italian to the IJCIC delegation, an exclamation point accentuates the salient sentence: “Due to our common roots, a Christian cannot be anti-Semitic!”12 Christian anti-Semitism is self-denial or self-hate, argues Pope Francis, because there is no Christianity without Judaism first. The pope recently reiterated this teaching during an interview with the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Achronot. He said, “Anti-Semitism is a sin…Our roots are in Judaism.”

More dramatically, the now legendary September 2013 Jewish holiday experience at Francis’ Vatican was reported in depth by his good friend, Rabbi Skorka. Skorka visited with Pope Francis during Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, and Shabbat, and described the scene:  

I eat with him at breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. He cares for me, and controls everything regarding my food to make sure it is all kosher, and according to my religious tradition. These are festive days, and I have to say certain prayers at meals and, I expand the last prayer and translate it. He accompanies me together with the others at the table—his secretaries and a bishop—and they all say “Amen” at the end. 

Can we safely presume that this scene is unprecedented in papal history?
Although Francis’ gestures are important, it is the formal teaching of the Magisterium that will have the most lasting effect beyond his tenure. His first Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), a 224-page document, briefly but powerfully addresses interreligious dialogue. In a section entitled “Relations with Judaism,” Francis writes,

Dialogue and friendship with the children of Israel are part of the life of Jesus’ disciples. The friendship which has grown between us makes us bitterly and sincerely regret the terrible persecutions which they have endured, and continue to endure, especially those that have involved Christians.

Rabbi David Rosen, my AJC colleague and the leading Jewish dialogue partner with the three most recent popes, put Evangelii Gaudium in historic context. “His emphasis on the ongoing Divine Presence in the life of the Jewish People and on the importance of the ‘values of Judaism’ for Christians is particularly significant in further advancing the historic transformation in the Catholic Church’s approach towards the Jewish people,” said Rosen. 

Pope Francis wasted little time in affirming the centrality of Holocaust commemoration and the importance of the State of Israel to Jews, Catholics, and Catholic-Jewish relations. Following in the footsteps of his two predecessors but prioritizing it earlier in his papal travel schedule, Francis made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a state visit to Israel.

At a moving encounter at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem, Francis “humbly bowed to kiss the hands of Holocaust survivors,” and offered an elegiac homily concluding with, “Adam, ‘where are you?’ Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man, created in your own image and likeness, was capable of doing.” 

Francis was the first pontiff to visit and lay a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. The drama of history was not lost upon those who remembered Herzl’s diary post describing his 1904 audience with Pope Pius X, when he entreated Catholicism’s leader to support the Zionist effort to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Herzl set down Pius X’s response:

We cannot give approval to this movement. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem— but we could never sanction it. The soil of Jerusalem, if it was not always sacred, has been sanctified by the life of Jesus Christ. As the head of the Church I cannot tell you anything different. The Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people.

As a result of the unprecedented nature of Francis’ positive history and interactions with the Jewish community past and present, the Francis effect has arguably had a more significant impact upon Catholic-Jewish relations than in other arenas...Whatever disagreements might arise between Catholics and Jews, it is clear in the post-Nostra Aetate era, even more so in the Francis era, that differences will be resolved, or at least discussed, among friends, and Pope Francis is certainly a friend.

But the promise of Francis’ pontificate remains most alluring. There has long been concern that the advances in Catholic-Jewish relations taken for granted in Europe and even more so in the United States may be harder to achieve elsewhere, especially where there are few Jews. A pope whose background is so different from his predecessors and speaks Spanish as his mother tongue might have the ability to reach more broadly with the message of Nostra Aetate and expand this golden age of Catholic-Jewish relations.  

When an AJC delegation met with Pope Francis at the Vatican in February 2014, we presented him with a copy of the Jewish Museum exhibit book inside an artistic and inscribed gift box. We showed him page 105 of the exquisite volume, where a print of White Crucifixion is included. Francis was moved by our recognition of his emotional connection to the painting and responded with a joyous smile.  

With Pope Francis, Catholic-Jewish relations have entered a new stage, normalization. It is all very natural, without premeditation. It is therefore most appropriate that the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate will be commemorated and celebrated during Francis’ pontificate, emblematic of the maturity of this cherished interreligious relationship between sibling faiths.

Philly's ABC affiliate reports on Francis' friends

Francis' rabbi sends out his Noahide message

Two peas in a Talmudic pod.

 

Rabbi Abraham Skorka: A Year after the Historic Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Pope Francis

A Vision of Peace for Jerusalem

ELENA DINI

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Conciliar Declaration on the Church’s relationship with non-Christian Religions, which marked an important moment in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and, in particular, with the Jewish world. To celebrate this anniversary, the annual conference of the International Council of Christians and Jews was held in Rome this summer, and had the joyful opportunity of having an audience with Pope Francis, where he stated that “an authentic fraternal dialogue has been made possible since the Second Vatican Council, following the promulgation of the DeclarationNostra Aetate. This document represents a definitive ‘yes’ to the Jewish roots of Christianity and an irrevocable ‘no’ to anti-Semitism. In celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, we are able to see the rich fruits which it has brought about and to gratefully appraise Jewish-Catholic dialogue.” Among those who participated in the conference was the Argentinean Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who was first in line to greet his friend Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and who later granted us an interview.

More than a year has passed since your historical pilgrimage with Pope Francis to the Holy Land. Would you like to share with us why you chose to join him on that trip, and why it was important?

The Holy Land was one of the topics that we often analyzed together, also in our book. The main question was this: what can we do in order to promote peace in the Middle East, and specifically in the Holy Land? For me the State of Israel is a very important theme: a state which has the challenge of showing the development of Jewish culture in our present day. The Zionist Movement is not merely a movement that claims and proclaims the re-establishment of the Jews in the Land of Israel. It is also a cultural movement, which helped to transform Hebrew into a living language, and that voices concern over the future of the Jewish culture.

With regards to “Rome” and “Jerusalem”, there is an historical antagonism between Rome and Jerusalem which is also mentioned in the Talmud. Rome destroyed the province of Yehuda during the terrible war between 67 and 70 which ended with the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. In 73 there was the siege of Masada and then, from 132 to 135, there was the terrible war was carried out by Adrianus. What we tried to do through this pilgrimage to the Holy Land was to transmit a message of peace, and to express our hope that the gap produced by over 2,000 years of conflict may be filled with sentiments of pureness, love, thus giving the possibility to see one another as brothers in our human condition.

From another angle, the idea was to go to the place to which I direct my tefilot (prayers) and to the place where Jesus – who is so special to the Christian faith – was born, lived, and spread his message. It is a special common place for us, and when I saw Pope Francis after he was elected, I told him: Let us go to Israel. This is the place in which our religiosity, our vision of God, and our connection with God was established. We are the children, the descendants of the great prophets who elevated their prophecies in Jerusalem.

We had our good friend Omar Abboud with us in order to show that all Abrahamic religions must embrace each other, forming a circle of spiritual power which, according to our Holy Scriptures, will bring peace to our world. This is our challenge and this was the reason for our journey, which was not a trip, but rather a pilgrimage.

You have spoken about the importance of the place in itself, of Jerusalem, and also of the global message one should spread. You, Pope Francis and Omar Abboud you are not originally from the Holy Land, nor are you living there. What do you think that the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which has more than 30,000 members around the world, can do in those places where it is located in order to promote encounter and peace?

One could define our pilgrimage as a proclamation for peace sent out from the very place from which Isaiah said: “For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah [instruction, in the NRSV translation] and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Is 2:3) What does the Torah mean? Peace! This verse comes from the middle of a description of a reality of peace in which one people will not lift up sword against the other, and in which swords will be transformed into plowshares.

We have received this idea, but how can we pragmatise it around the world? Every Christian community and every Jewish community ought to have interreligious programs. The first step for these interreligious programs must be an encounter between Jews and Christians of different denominations, to see and to know each other, and to analyze themes together. Of course there should not be an analysis of very sensitive topics at the very beginning, but instead daily problems should be analyzed from Jewish and Christian points of view, and then studied together, as Pope Francis suggested in Evangelii Gaudium. This should be the beginning: to know each other and to work together in order to solve the problems that affect our common society.

Would you like to conclude by sharing a prayer that you think can be helpful for sustaining peace in the Holy Land?

All our prayers quote different Bible verses. A few passages from the book of Isaiah come to mind. In Isaiah Chapter 2 there is the famous image of a Jerusalem of peace. Peace is what we must ask God for: to bless us (and I mean Jews, Muslims and Christians) in order to help us accept one another with great respect, to see one another as brothers. It is then that we will surely be able to build up a Jerusalem of peace in which all of us will have the possibility to express the best sentiments, ideas and thoughts which are in each one of us.

The other passage in Isaiah, which strikes me  as a tefila, a prayer, is at the end of Chapter 19, where there appears to come a way that connects Egypt and Assyria, and then “Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. God will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.’” (Is 19:24-25) At that time, I understood, I pray, all people will have a deep commitment to worship God and it will be a blessing for the whole world.

The third passage in Isaiah, which is very relevant for me as a prayer, is the one that says “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56:7). He will bless us, all of us, with greatness to transform all the city of Jerusalem into God’s house. Not because God is living in this house, but in order that each person who comes to Jerusalem, no matter what his or her faith may be, will have the possibility of finding in Jerusalem a real dimension of spirituality. In this way we will really honor the memory of the prophets of Israel, the great masters of Israel, Jesus, and Muhammad.

In collaboration with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

 

Jews love Francis

"If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you.  If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for my name' s sake: because they know not him who sent me.  If I had not come, and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.  If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law: They hated me without cause."

— John 15,18-25 —

 Laurence A. Hoffman a key player in interfaith and interreligious dialogues.

Underlines in the article are Call Me Jorge...'s for emphasis.

Everybody Loves a Good Pope: Especially Jews

by Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis I on March 13, 2013; by December, he was Time’s “Man of the Year”; and in January, the Huffington Post announced rave reviews by the “Forward 50 list of top American Jews” as well.

Calling the Jewish People “Our big brothers” on the 75^th anniversary of Kristallnacht certainly helped, as did his giving Rabbi Abraham Skorka (of the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano) an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Argentina.

But this Jewish adulation is also a sigh of relief following an era when Jewish-Catholic relationships seemed again to be in jeopardy. After centuries of Catholic enmity over the Jewish “rejection” of Christ, Vatican II had surprised the world with its1963 affirmation that God still “holds the Jews most dear” and “does not repent of the calls He issues.” That is to say, Judaism has not, after all, been superseded by Christianity; Jews should not be reviled as Christ killers; and Christian anti-Semitism must cease.

That was the liberalizing era of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, however. With their successors, John Paul II and then Benedict XVI, the revival of conservative forces in the Vatican made Jews suspect the imminent return also of medieval Catholic separatism.

When Francis reasserted the “common roots” of Jews and Christians, and the reminder that “a true Christian cannot be anti-Semitic,” Jews concluded that the gains of Vatican II might be here to stay.

But the Jewish love affair with Francis isn’t all about self-interest.

An article in Haaretz (Anshei Pfeffer, “Pope Francis Cannot save Us.” Dec. 11, 2013) got it right: “In the total absence of truly charismatic political or spiritual figures, in a generation where Israel’s elected leaders and rabbis constantly make us cringe with their outrageous statements or despair at their hopeless blandness, Bergoglio… extends some hope that we may yet see some wise old men [sic] of faith in our lifetime.”

We would say “men and women” not just “men”; being “old” has nothing to do with it; and the issue is not just Israel. But otherwise, hurray for Haaretz for observing that the positive public voice of Judaism has been wanting. Whatever happened to the Jewish visionaries who spoke truths instead of platitudes, posited promises of Jewish purpose rather than threats to Jewish continuity, held out hope for a troubled world, and made us proud to know that our Judaism is deep and wise, compassionate and compelling?

Who remembers the days when Abraham Joshua Heschel spoke poetically and prophetically to reassure a worldwide audience that religion still had something important to say? Or when thousands of Reform Jews gathered biennially, to hear Rabbi Alexander Schindler demand that they act boldly, think creatively, and make a difference?

The relative dearth of such voices today is a generational flaw, not because rabbis now are less able, but because of the way they have been trained (their “spiritual formation,” in theological language). Heschel and Schindler took it for granted that as experts in Jewish tradition, rabbis think deeply, speak boldly, and command a bully pulpit. Seeing flaws in this “Big Man” model of leadership, their students (my generation) emphasized alternative strategies like team work, collaboration, and facilitating group process.

So far so good – but we went too far: confusing authoritarianism with authority, we stopped speaking authoritatively.

Congregations aid and abet this downfall of authority by making rabbis managers, bureaucrats and apparatchiks. Success is attending meetings and managing a process that slowly creaks along while people forget why it is creaking altogether.

The economy hasn’t helped either: those in positions of national authority (not just Jews but everyone) exhaust themselves just to avoid closing plants and programs – leaving little time or energy to think or to proclaim anything. The national mood too is at fault for thriving on negativity and crippling great vision with a lethal combination of parsimonious bookkeeping and meanness of spirit.

What is the point of religion in the first place, however, if not to insist on vision, especially where the complexities of life seem to foster helplessness and hopelessness, precisely our situation today?

So along comes Francis, a welcome reminder of religion beyond bureaucracy, and heralding the best that we must become. I do not agree with everything he says – his economics, for example; and, no doubt, he has his own conservative naysayers who cringe at the very things that make the rest of us stand up and applaud.

But most Jews are on their feet and clapping – not just for Francis, but for what he represents and what we miss. The responsibility for making up that loss cannot be laid on the shoulders of the rabbinate alone. We have all colluded in manufacturing our problem; we must all work together in solving it.

Synagogues can insist on rabbis with learning and vision – then expect them to learn and engage them in visioning. Seminaries can demand that students think deeply, not just hurriedly and passingly; philanthropists can invest in big ideas with a future, not just reactive strategies dictated by the past. Jews don’t need Francis; we need rabbis like him, because without them, it remains unclear why we should even remain Jewish in the first place.