Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews, was the speaker of this year's John Paul II Annual Lecture, promoted by the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue, a "partnership between the Russell Berrie Foundation and the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)" and itself located in the Angelicum. The Angelicum was, of course, the great Thomist center in Rome, also dedicated these days to "training in the specialties of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, developed according to the principles set out by the Second Vatican Council and the official Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity"... The complete text of the lecture, delivered in English, and of its Q&A follow-up session are not available at the moment, but SIR, the news agency of the Italian episcopate, made a summary of the conference available, a link we post here for the record of events. [Tip: Le Forum Catholique]
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[Update, also for the record of events:] Jack Bemporad, a Reform Judaism rabbi, is the president of the above-mentioned "Interreligious Dialogue" Center and he also had some words to say regarding the decisions of Pope Benedict XVI:
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[Update, also for the record of events:] Jack Bemporad, a Reform Judaism rabbi, is the president of the above-mentioned "Interreligious Dialogue" Center and he also had some words to say regarding the decisions of Pope Benedict XVI:
Trust Pope’s judgment on SSPX deal, senior rabbi saysBy David Kerr
Rome, Italy, May 18, 2012 / 06:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A leading American rabbiand Holocaust refugee says people should trust Pope Benedict’s judgment when it comes to the Church possibly readmitting the Society of St. Pius X, which has a bishop who denied the scale of the Holocaust.“Let me tell you this, I think that Pope Benedict XVI in many ways really understood the Holocaust because he was in the German Army. He deserted (the army), his family was anti-Nazi, I mean he was completely opposed to Hitler,” Rabbi Jack Bemporad told CNA May 16.“Now, given the fact that he suffered under Hitler and that his family suffered under Hitler, how could he in any way accept or welcome someone who denies that Hitler did anything wrong?” he asked rhetorically.[...]Rabbi Bemporad, who currently serves as Professor of Interreligious Studies at the Pontifical Angelicum University, dismissed Bishop Williamson as “one person who is really crazy” and “knows nothing.”He also believes that Williamson does not speak for the vast majority of Society members.“The mistake is to take a few people and make them somehow representative of everyone without realizing that that just isn’t true,” he said. “I think it is only a small part of this group that is that radical. I think the vast majority are very happy and would love to be part of the Church.”Earlier this week the Vatican announced that negotiations with the Society about reconciling the 1988 breach will now happen “separately and singularly” with three of the Society’s four bishops, including Williamson.For his part, Williamson has made it increasingly clear that he is opposed to reconciliation with Rome. In a letter written earlier this month to his superior, Bishop Williamson suggested that reunion would cause the Society to cease opposing “the universal apostasy of our time.” He also accused Pope Benedict of being “a subjectivist.”“Now I don’t think that in trying to find a way of incorporating this group that they are going to accept in any way any of the extreme positions that Williamson stands for,” predicted Rabbi Bemporad.[...] [Source: CNA; tip: Father Zuhlsdorf]
