The Vatican has rejected criticism from Israeli senior rabbis for Pope Francis’ remarks on the Jewish book of sacred law.
Reuters reported last month that Israeli Prime Minister Rabinate’s relationship with the Vatican, Rabbi Lasson Alousi, wrote a harsh letter to the Vatican, suggesting Francis’ comments to the general public on August 11. Said that. The law, or Jewish law, was outdated.
The official Vatican reaction that Reuters saw on Friday stated that the Pope’s comments on St. Paul’s writings should not be inferred from ancient contexts and have nothing to do with Jews today.
“The Christian belief is that Jesus Christ is a new way of salvation, but this means that the Torah has diminished or is no longer recognized as the” Jewish way of salvation. ” It’s not a thing, “writes Cardinal Kurtkoch, whose Vatican division is responsible for religious relations with the Jews.
“In his culture, the Holy Father makes no mention of modern Judaism. The speech is a reflection of (St. Paul’s) theology in the historical context of a given era,” Koch said. I am writing.
“The fact that the Torah is crucial to modern Judaism has never been questioned,” he said.
The first five volumes of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Law, contain hundreds of commandments that Jews should obey in their daily lives. The scale of compliance with the broad guidelines differs between Orthodox and Reformed Jews.
In a letter to Koch in August, Alousi said the Pope’s comments endangered the resurgence of the “teachings of contempt” that was prevalent in Catholic churches until the last century.
“With the positive claims that Pope Francis makes about Judaism in mind, we can never speculate that he is returning to the so-called” doctrine of contempt, “” Koch wrote.
“Francisco fully respects the foundations of Judaism and always strives to build a bond of friendship between the two traditions of faith,” he said.
The Catholic-Jewish relationship revolutionized in 1965, when the Second Vatican Council denied the concept of Jewish collective guilt against Jesus’ death and began decades of interreligious dialogue. rice field. Francis and his two predecessors visited the synagogue.
Francis has a good relationship with the Jews. While serving as archbishop in his native Buenos Aires, he co-authored a book with one of the city’s rabbis, Abraham Skorka, and has maintained a lasting friendship with him.
