Benedict XVI’s first gesture on arriving in Rome’s former Jewish ghetto, just before entering the Great Synagogue, was to stop in front of a plaque commemorating the deportation of Rome’s Jews on 16 October 1943. Rome, where Jewish presence is historically attested since 146 B.C., is the only European city from which Jews have never been expelled. The Pope lingered at length in front of the plaque, listening to the commentaries of a historian specialising in the Holocaust.
Benedict XVI will soon be inaugurating an exhibition called “Et ecce gaudium”, illustrating the important part played by Jews in the festivities that marked the papal elections in Rome in the 18th century.
Were present at this meeting, among others, the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris André Vingt-trois; Father Patrick Desbois, director of France’s Bishops’ Conference service for relations with Judaism; the honorary President of B’nai B’rith international, Tommy Baer, and international Vice-President Yves-Victor Kamami, who is also a member of CRIF’s Executive Board; Florence Kaufmann, chair of the Board of the European Jewish Congress, and Pierre Besnainou, President of the United Jewish Social Fund.
English
Français