Pope Francis spoke of the troubling anti-Semitic trends in Europe today, 70 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp from the Nazi regime, during a meeting with European rabbis at the Vatican on Monday.
Greeting the group, which represents more than 700 Rabbis from synagogues across the continent,
According to Radio Vatican, the Pope spoke of the importance of emphasising the spiritual and religious dimension of life in Europe, which is increasingly “marked by secularism and threatened by atheism”.
Jews and Christians together, he said, have the responsibility of preserving a sense of the sacred and reminding people that our lives are a gift from God.
The group of rabbis was headed by the Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt in his role as President of the Conference of European Rabbis.
Rabbi Goldschmidt noted that although this was the first official meeting of Pope Francis with the Conference of European Rabbis, many members of the group from different countries have met with popes and Vatican officials over previous decades.
He said the meeting in the Vatican has historic value and marks a step forward in facing together the challenges of both faith communities. These include the plight of Christians in the Middle East and of Jews being attacked in European countries, but also the common quest for religious freedom in the face of a counter attack against religious expression in Europe.
Rabbi Goldschmidt says religious communities must work together against radicalisation, including the great majority of moderate Muslims in Europe who want to live normal lives and educate their children.
Monday’s meeting came 50 years after the Nostra Aetate, the landmark declaration on the relations between the Catholic Church with non-Christian religions.
After meeting the delegation of rabbis, the pope met privately with the Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, who is a prominent promoter of interfaith ties.
Korsia, whose community has been among the most affected by violent anti-Semitism, last year compared the persecution of Christians in the Middle East to the Holocaust-era persecution of Jews.