Former Israeli Chief Rabbi Refuses Audience with Pope

Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the former Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Israel, who is attending an ecumenical conference here, refused to join the conference’s other participants Tuesday at an audience with Pope John Paul II because the Vatican has not extended diplomatic recognition to Israel.

Saying the Holy See is one of the few states in Europe not to have diplomatic relations with Israel, he said, “I therefore do not think it is necessary to participate in such a meeting.”

Goren came to Rome for a conference on “Peace Among Religions, Peace in Society” organized by the San Egidio Community, a Catholic group involved in charity and the promotion of interfaith dialogue.

Held in the historic Campidoglio, Rome’s City Hall, the conference was attended by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and Mayor Franco Carraro of Rome.

The theme of the conference was the substance of the pope’s remarks to his guests.

Peace among religions is a prerequisite for peace among people as a whole, the pontiff said. “If there is not loving peace among the religions, how can one find harmony in society?” Goren touched on the same subject in what the newspaper La Repubblica called “the strongest speech” delivered at the San Egidio conference.

According to the Israeli rabbi, “the cardinal problem” is whether “religion is a unifying factor that radiates love, brotherhood and peace among nations and human beings, or if, perhaps, instead, religion is the cause of separations and nourished hatred, conflicts and dissension among peoples of different faiths.

“If I must judge, basing my judgment on the relations between the Jewish people and the world in the past,” he said, “I would have to arrive at the sad conclusion that most persecutions, organized massacres and projects of genocide against the Jewish people were designed and carried out in the name of religion and with its encouragement.”