Monday, September 28, 2009

There is no intention to convert Jews says President of Italian Conference of Catholic Bishops



Italian Bishops Conference communiqué


There is no intention to convert Jews

There is no intention to actively try to convert Jews said Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference (CEI). In a communiqué issued after his meeting with Jewish- Left Rabbis the CEI daily Avvenire reported (23.09.2009).

The Rabbis who had ended ‘dialogue’ with the Vatican after the Revised Good Friday Prayer for the conversion of the Jews announced relations are now normal after the CEI communiqué on the change in Church policy towards the conversion of the Jews.

There will be the Jewish-Catholic day of Reflection in January 2010 said Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, on Sept.23 after a meeting with Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, president of the Italian Rabbinic Assembly, and Ricardo Di Segni, chief rabbi of Rome.

Cardinal Bagnasco said that there was no change in the attitude that the Catholic Church has developed toward the Jews, especially since Vatican Council II."

The Avvenire report is available on the internet (' Gironata ebraico-cristiana riprende la celebrazione commune Bagnasco ai rabbinic Laras e Di Segni : diamo nuovo slancio al dialogo di Lorenzo Rosoli p.8,Chiesa).

Rabbi Segni according to Avvenire has called for vigilance against any signs of anti Semitism and a rejection of Vatican Council II, especially Nostra Aetate.

Their meeting was also attended by Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the CEI Commission for Ecumenism and Inter Religious Dialogue.

The report said that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State had clearly expressed the sentiments of the Holy Father to the Rabbinate of Israel after the Revised Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews was announced.

After the CEI communiqué emphasized that there was no intention to actively convert Jews the Rabbinical Assembly decided to normalize relations which were broken in 2007. It was also noted that the prayer referred to the conversion of the Jews in the eschatological time in the future and not now.

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