For only the second time in its long history, a Pope visited Rome’s main synagogue. Given that one can walk from there from the Vatican, that itself is historic. But the context of the visit and what Pope Benedict XVI sad when he was there are even more significant.
The pope’s visit comes in the midst of numerous events which some Jewish leaders have described as “creating tension” and even as “setting back relations” between Catholics and Jews. They are referring to Pope Pius XII’s continued path to sainthood, the reintegration of a Holocaust-denying priest into the Church, and similar events. The truth is that none of these events could even threaten, let alone undermine, a genuinely developed relationship. And that seems to be what Pope Benedict wants to have with the Jewish community.

Commenting on the challenge of the Church’s historic anti-Semitism, Benedict said, “The Church has not failed to deplore the failings of her sons and daughters, begging forgiveness for all that could in any way have contributed to the scourge of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism,” he said. “May these wounds be healed forever!”
The Pope did not shy away from the horrors of the past, but a close reading of his words indicates that that is where he believes the horrors lie – in the past, and that is where they should stay. And more than anything, I think that is what the real misunderstanding is between this Pope and those Jews who seem ever-ready to assume the worst about him and his leadership on Catholic-Jewish relations.
The real question which seems to divide these two camps is how much of the past can be left in the past. How ready are we to build a future together which never forgets the past, but is ready to move away from it being the focus of every encounter? These of course are the eternal questions, when it comes to healing past hurts, whether between communities or individuals.
How can Catholics reassure Jews that the past will never be either forgotten, or repeated? How can Jews liberate themselves from the fear that it will be and focus instead on building a shared future with those we might call, to paraphrase John Paul II, our younger siblings in faith?
Perhaps the next major initiative between our two communities should focus on the Church’s capacity to nurture historic memory and Jewish tradition’s ability to offer ways of granting second chances and real forgiveness.