Pope John Paul II
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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: January 18, 2005 |
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Pope John Paul II was set to meet 160 Jewish leaders, rabbis and cantors from around the world Tuesday, a meeting described as the largest Vatican audience granted by a pope to Jewish representatives.
The gathering was organized to thank the pope for his work to better relations between Roman Catholics and Jews.
"Posterity will surely consider the last 40 years as the most revolutionary and significant in terms of progress in relations between Jews and Catholics," New Jersey-based Rabbi Jack Bemporad said in a statement.
"From the Second Vatican Council and under the guidance of John Paul II, the Church has made extremely significant steps to construct new links with Jews on the basis of sincere mutual affection," Bemporad said.
Polish-born John Paul was the first pope ever to visit a synagogue, stopping in Rome's main synagogue in 1986. During his papacy, the Vatican established diplomatic relations with Israel, and John Paul visited the Jewish state in 2000.
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