“After his disappointing speech at Birkenau three years ago, Benedict XVI has failed a second time. I was hoping he would at last give a great speech, not to express repentance – that’s already been expressed – but to reflect not just on the spiritual but on the historical and ethical implications of the black hole of the human condition that was the Holocaust. Instead we were treated to a speech on the etymology of Yad Vashem, the meaning of a person’s name and a reminder of divine goodness.”
“I believe that Benedict XVI does not want to face time, history and its horrors head on, choosing to remain in a purely spiritual, but consequently disincarnate dimension. I note that other spiritual leaders, even in Judaism, have this same reserve when it comes to the Holocaust.”
“That being said, the Pope’s other speeches contained many remarkable elements that spoke of the ties between the Catholic Church and Judaism, of the seriousness of anti-Semitism in the world and of the unacceptable nature of the perverse use of religion for political goals by exploiting violence.”
“The trialogue with Muslims received a very serious blow with the unexpected and extremely violent speech by Sheik Al Tamimi during an interfaith meeting at Notre Dame on Monday 11th May. This man was considered by some to be a moderate, yet in the past he had said that a Muslim who sold his land to a Jew deserved to die. He is – was? – the Muslim correspondent in several interfaith bodies, which goes to show their limits when the situation becomes difficult.”
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