French Chief Rabbi, Pope Meet

Pope John Paul 11 met French Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan yesterday and was blessed by him for his actions in favor of human rights. The 20-minute meeting between the Pontiff and Rabbi Kaplan took place in a seminary here in the presence of representatives of the French church and the Jewish community.

Kaplan said he was very pleased to see the Pope and praised the church for its new favorable attitude towards Judaism. “The Catholic Church recognizes the permanent vocation of Judaism and there is a new effort on its part to look at Judaism with different eyes,” the rabbi said after the meeting. He added that relations between Catholics and Jews were “excellent and that the Pope had assured him that the church firmly condemned anti-Semitism and Nazism.”

The talks centered on the Polish-born Pope’s active role in favor of Jews when he was Bishop in Cracow and his actions in Poland against anti-Semitism. Kaplan attempted to discuss the Middle East problem and notably the question of Jerusalem, urging the Pope to issue a call in favor of the present peace process. But the Pontiff refused to talk about political matters.

The Chief Rabbi was accompanied at the meeting by Baron Alain de Rothschild, the president of the Representative Council of French Jews (CRIF). Kaplan assured the Pope that the government of Israel was doing its utmost to protect the holy sanctuaries of Jerusalem and to guarantee access to them. He stressed that the religious leaders concerned were entirely free to manage the holy sites. The Pope said at the end of the meeting he hoped to visit the Holy Land as soon as possible. On Saturday, the Pontiff met the Rector of the Paris Mosque, Si Hamza Boubakeur, who also referred to the problem of Jerusalem and to the Palestinian question. The Pope listened attentively but made no comment.