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Bird’s Eye View of the News
BENEDICT’S COMING VISIT TO THE SYNAGOGUE OF COLOGNE
- From August 18 to 21, Pope Benedict
XVI will be in Germany. This trip will carve in stone the general
lines of his likely short pontificate. The first goal
of his trip is to participate in the World Youth Day at Cologne
from the 16th to 21st. Let us watch and see whether he will
slow down the “Wojtyla Woodstocks” that have characterized
the World Youth Days to date, or if he will continue to bless
the same free-love meetings.
The second goal is to visit the synagogue of Cologne.
It will be the second time in History that a Pope will go to
a synagogue. The first was John Paul II’s visit to the
Jewish synagogue in Rome in 1986.
John Paul II with chief-rabbi Elio Toaff during his visit
to the Rome synagogue.
Internet photo
Benedict’s visit seems to have been included on his agenda
from the time he was elected. The letter he wrote to retired
chief-rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, as soon as he was named Pope
certainly paved the way for that. On April 30, he wrote the
chief-rabbi:
“With a heart grateful to God, I thank you, most distinguished
Professor [Elio Toaff], for the good relations that you have
woven with the Holy See, especially during the pontificate of
my late predecessor, Pope John Paul II. I remember joyfully
the embrace with which you welcomed him at the synagogue of
Rome on April 13, 1986” (Vatican website).
It is significant that the last symbolic act of John Paul II’s
pontificate was to receive 160 rabbis from all over the world
at the Vatican last January, and that the first symbolic act
of Benedict’s government was to greet the chief-rabbi
of Rome. In January, JPII was “blessed” by the rabbis;
in his turn, Benedict blessed Toaff at the start of his April
30 letter:
“United
with you and the Jewish Community of Rome, I bless the Eternal
One for his gift of the long and fruitful life that he has
granted you” (ibid.).
What is becoming very
clear in this love affair between the conciliar Popes and Judaism
is that Progressivism is increasingly identifying itself with
the Jewish religious goals, which are directly opposed to the
bi-millenary position of the Catholic Church.
JPII wanted to meet the rabbis on his trip to Israel
in the year 2000
New York Jewish Times online
I report some symbolic actions of these conciliar Popes:
- John XXIII
abolished the final prayers of the Mass for the conversion
of the Jews from their multi-secular perfidy.
- Paul VI identified
himself so strongly with the Jewish religion that he wore
the symbol of its high priest, the rational of judgment.
- Among innumerable
symbolic initiatives to favor the Jews, John Paul II
went to their synagogue in 1986, prayed at the Wailing Wall
in 2000, was “blessed” by rabbis at the Vatican
in 2005, and also named the rabbi of Rome in his last will
and testament.
On the contrary, the Popes
prior to Vatican II always condemned the Jewish religion as
one of the most nefarious enemies of the Catholic Church. Let
me report on the ones I found in my research:
- In his Epistula
VIII, St. Gregory the Great (590-604) advised
Catholics not to give Jews an absolute liberty because of
the frequent offenses they made against the Faith. (1) In
letters to the Frankish Kings Theodoric and Theobert and
to Queen Brunehaut, he reminded them that Christians, members
of the Body of Christ, should never be stepped on by Jews,
enemies of Christ. (2)
- Honorius I
(625-638) encouraged the 6th Council of Toledo (638) to
act energetically regarding the danger the Jews represented
for the Catholic Faith. (3)
- Leo VII (936-939)
authorized the Archbishop of Moguncia, Germany, to expel
the Jews from the city, given the constant attacks they
launched against Catholics. (4)
- In letter of January
17, 1208 addressed to the Count of Nevers, France, Innocent
III (1198-1216) lamented that the Jews were making use
of usury to exploit Christians. (5)
- Gregory IX (1227-1241) wrote to the Western Bishops
and Sovereigns ordering that all copies of the Jewish Talmud
be apprehended. He charged William of Auvergne, Bishop of
Paris, with organizing an investigation to verify whether
or not the Talmud contained articles against the
Catholic Faith. At its conclusion, the Talmud was
condemned and copies of it were burned publicly in Paris
in 1242. At the demand of the Jews, the Talmud was
submitted to a new examination in 1248 and was definitively
condemned by William of Auvergne along with the masters
of theology of Paris, among them St. Albert the Great. (6)
In the work Excerpta talmudica, written to justify
this condemnation, one reads:
“By a secret design of Divine Providence,
the errors, blasphemies, and outrages contained in the
Talmud have escaped the eyes of the doctors of
the Church until this day. The wall has finally been removed
and one can clearly see the reptiles, the abominable idols
that the House of Israel adores.”(7)


On January 16, 2005, John Paul II received 160 rabbis at
the Vatican. On that occasion, three of them 'blessed' him
in a ritual ceremony.
Above are three close-ups of the event.
L'Osservatore Romano online
- Innocent
IV (1243-1254) ordered the Talmud to be burned
because it was filled with errors and blasphemies. (8) In
the Bull Sicut tua nobis of July 23, 1254, he authorized
the Archbishop of Vienna to act with energy against the
Jews for their constant blasphemies and actions against
the Catholic Faith. (9)
- In
the Bull Damnabili perfidia of July 15, 1267, Clement
IV (1265-1268) also condemned the Talmud. (10)
- In
the Bull Nimis in partibus anglicanis of November
8, 1285, Honorius IV (1285-1287) took the same action
as his predecessors regarding the Talmud. (11)
- John
XXII (1316-1334) also repudiated the errors of the Talmud
with the Bull Dudum felicis recordationis of September
4, 1320. (12)
- In
the Bull Dudum as nostrum of August 8, 1442, Eugene
IV (1431-1447) forbade the Jews not only from living
with Christians, as the Third Lateran Council had established
in its Decreta (V, VI, 5), but also from living among
Christians, given the continuous blasphemies and attacks
of the Jews against the Catholic Faith. (13)
- Nicolas
V (1447-1455), Calixtus III (1455-1458), and
Paul IV (1464-1471) renewed the condemnations of
their predecessors. (14)
- In
the Bull Intenta semper salutis of May 31, 1484,
Sixtus IV (1471-1484) commanded that the Jews in
Spain should live separate from Christians to protect the
latter from permanent danger to their Faith threatened by
contact with Jews. (15)
- Leo
X (1513-1521) known for his goodness toward the Jews,
was nonetheless obliged several times to thwart Jewish blasphemies
and abuses against the Catholic Faith. (16)
- Julius
III (1550-1555) approved the Inquisition to seek out
and burn the Talmud in 1553. In the Bull Cum sicut
nuper, of May 29, 1554, the Pope ordered the Jews to
hand over all their books that contained offenses against
Our Lord Jesus Christ. (17)
- Paul
IV (1555-1559) took severe measures in order to defend
the integrity of the Faith and prevent the Jews from dominating
Catholics. The Jews tried to bribe Paul IV by offering him
40,000 escudos to annul his Bull Cum nimis absurdum,
which legislated against the Jews in the Pontifical States.
(18) Along with other measures, the Pontiff ordered the
destruction of the Talmud. (19)
- Pius
IV (1560-1565) placed the Talmud on the Index
librorum prohibitorum [Index of prohibited books] in
1564; he also prohibited its glossaries, interpretations
and expositions. (20)
- In
the Bull Hebraeorum gens of February 26, 1569, St.
Pius V (1566-1572) condemned in particular the practice
of “divination, sortilege, sorcery and witchcraft”
among Jews. (21) In that bull St. Pius V also accused the
Jews of the crimes of usury, robbery, receiving stolen objects,
and the exploitation of prostitution. He ended the Bull
with these words:
“Finally, we consider as known and proven
how offensively this perverse generation [the Jews] uses
the name of Christ, how hostile it is to those who carry
the name of Christians, even making attempts against their
lives.” (22)
John Paul II being rewarded by the rabbis for his support
of Judaism
National Catholic Reporter online,
January 30, 2005
He expelled them from the Pontifical Territories since,
in addition to the mentioned crimes, the Jews spied for
the Muslims and supported their plans of conquest that endangered
all Christendom. (23)
In the Brief of May 3, 1569, St. Pius V also affirmed: “We
know that this most perverse people have been the seed-bag
of almost all the heresies.” (24)
To this vigilant energy against the Jewish perfidy, St.
Pius V added his zealous desire for their conversion. One
of the most remarkable conversions he achieved was that
of the chief-rabbi of Rome, Elias, followed by the conversions
of his three sons and one grandson. On June 4, 1566, they
solemnly received Baptism at the Vatican in the presence
of the Sacred College of Cardinals. (25)
- In
the Brief of May 27, 1581, Gregory XIII (1572-1585)
warned the faithful and religious authorities against the
false conversions of Jews as a means to infiltrate the Catholic
Church. (26) In the Bull Antiqua judeorum improbitas
of June 1, 1581, the Pontiff established these conditions
for when Jews must be submitted to the vigilance of the
Inquisition:
a. when they attack Catholic dogmas;
b. when they invoke devils or offer sacrifices to them;
c. when they teach Catholics to do the same;
d. when they speak blasphemies against Our Lord and Our
Lady;
e. when they try to induce Catholics to abandon their
Faith;
f. when they forbid a Jew or an infidel to convert;
g. when they consciously favor heretics;
h. when they disseminate heretical books;
i. when, in disdain for Our Lord, they crucify a lamb
– principally on Good-Friday – and
then spit on it and spew it with insults.
j. when they oblige Catholic wet-nurses to pour their
milk into the toilettes and sewers after they have received
the Eucharist. (27)
- In
the Bull Cum hebraeorum of February 28, 1593, (28)
Clement VIII (1592-1605) proscribed the Talmud,
the books of the Kabala, as well as works written
in Hebrew that contained errors. (29) The prohibition contained
in this bull was included as a norm in the Index
published on March 27, 1596. In the Bull Caeca et obdurate
of January 25, 1593, this Pontiff also introduced new exhortations
for the conversion of the Jews. (30)
- In
the Brief of January 15, 1628 to the King of Spain, Urban
VIII (1623-1644), dealt with the crime of usury practiced
by the Jews in Portugal. (31)
- On
September 15, 1751, Benedict XIV (1740-1758) signed
and promulgated a document that reaffirmed the measures
of caution regarding the Talmud taken by the Popes
since Innocent IV. (32)
- In
October 1775 and in January 1793, Pius VI (1775-1799)
published two edicts confirming the directives of Benedict
XIV regarding the Jews. (33)
- St.
Pius X (1903-1914), through his Secretary of State,
Cardinal Merry del Val, praised the classic work of Msgr.
Henri Delassus, La conjuration antichrétienne [The
Anti-Christian Conspiracy], which exposes the conspiracy
of Judaism and Freemasonry against the Catholic Church and
Christian Civilization. (34)
I
offer these two lists of Popes – one of the four post-conciliar
Popes favoring the Jews, and the other of the 25 previous Catholic
Popes warning against them – to act as reference points
for my reader. With them, he can assess what is happening in
the Catholic Church regarding the Jews, and appraise where we
are heading. These lists also provide good sources to evaluate
the next visit of Benedict XVI to the synagogue of Cologne.
Footnotes:
1. Felix Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, in Dictionnaire
Apologétique de la Foi Catholique, vol. 2, col. 1726.
2. Epistula IX, CIX,CX; III, XXXVIII , apud ibid.,
col 1744. 3. René Aigrain, L’Espagne chrétienne,
in Histoire de l’Église depuis les origines jusqu’à
nos jours, Paris: Bloud & Gay, 1946-1960, vol. 5,
p. 246.
4 Auguste Dumas, Le sentiment religieux et ses aberrations,
in ibid, vol. 7, p. 463.
5. Augustin Fliche, La réforme de l’Église, in
ibid., vol. 10, p. 142.
6. Felix Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1691; Christine
Thouzeller, L’enseignement et les universités,
in Histoire de l’Église, vol. 10, pp. 379-380.
7. F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, ibid.
8. Registres d’Innocent IV, vol. 1, n. 682, Potthast,
11376, Chartularium, n. 131, vol. 1, nn. 173, 178;
Saint Louis et Innocent IV, pp. 302-6, apud
C. Thouzeller, L’enseignement et les universités,
p. 380.
9. F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1739.
10. Ibid., col. 1692.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1740.
14. Ibid., col. 1728.
15. Bernardino Llorca, Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición
española, Rome: Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1949,
pp. 106-108.
16. Brief of May 25, 1518 to the Nuncio in Venice, Arm. XL,
vol. 3, n. 331, Pontifical Secret Archive, apud Ludovic
Pastor, Historia de los Papas, vol. 8, p. 350.
17. Bull. VI, pp. 482-483, apud ibid, vol. 13,
p. 208.
18. Masio, Cartas, 515, Berliner, 2, 2, 7, Rodocanachi,
40-41, in Révue des Études Juives, 20, 68; Cartas
de San Inácio, V, pp. 288-289, apud ibid, vol.
14, p. 236.
19. Caracciolo, Vita, 4, 11; Erler, in Arquivo de Direito
Canônico, L 3, 49; Reusch, 1, 48; H. Vogelstein - P. Rieger,
2, 156f.; Berliner, 2, 2, 8S.; see also same author, Censura
y confisco de los libros judios en los Estados da la Iglesia
(Frankfurt, 1891), apud ibid, vol. 15, p. 239.
20. F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1693.
21. Bull. Rom. VII, p. 740, apud L. Pastor,
Historia de los Papas, vol. 17, p. 301.
22. Apud F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col.
1712.
23. Brief of May 3, 1569, apud Laderchi, 1569, n. 187.
24. Apud L. Pastor, Historia de los Papas, vol.
17, p. 306.
25. Ibid., vol. 17, pp. 306-307.
26. Ibid., vol. 19, p. 281.
27. F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1737.
28. Reusch, 1, 50, 333, 339, 534.
29. See the list of the books that he destroyed in Cremona,
in Sisto de Siena, Bibliotheca sancta (Paris, 1610), pp. 310-311;
F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1738.
30. L. Pastor, Historia de los Papas, vol. XXIV, pp.
111-112; F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1731.
31. Epistula V, Arquivo Secreto Pontifício, apud
L. Pastor, Historia de los Papas, vol. 28, p. 285.
32. F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, col. 1694.
33. Analecta juris pontificii, Rome, 1860, pp. 1422-
1423; apud F. Vernet, Juifs et chrétiens, ibid.
34. Henri Delassus, La conjuration antichrétienne,
Lille: Desclée de Brouwer, 1910, vol. 1, p. V.
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