Word: waldheim
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...that relationship began in 1965, with the Second Vatican Council's decree denouncing anti-Semitism. But the Holy See still does not recognize Israel. And there have been other disputes, none more charged than the angry Jewish reaction to the audience John Paul granted to Austrian President Kurt Waldheim in June. Waldheim has been accused of complicity in Nazi war crimes and consequently is unwelcome in numerous Western nations, including the U.S. The Vatican argues that declining to receive Waldheim would have been tantamount to judging him guilty.* Dismayed that John Paul made no mention of the Holocaust during Waldheim...
...process picked up at a vigorous working session in Rome the day before the papal meeting. Nine delegates of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations and nine Catholic representatives, mostly from the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, met for six hours. After explaining the Waldheim audience by simply restating the Holy See's position, the church team, headed by Johannes Cardinal Willebrands, took strategic steps to improve relations...
Rome announced that it will establish a "special mechanism" to serve as a line of swift communication to Jewish leadership. New York City Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, chairman of the International Jewish Committee, said the still-to-be- defined mechanism "could assure that there would be no more Waldheim incidents in the future." The Vatican Secretary of State Agostino Cardinal Casaroli offered to maintain continuing contacts with Jewish leaders. Since Casaroli is the Pope's chief political adviser, his offer effectively "brought Catholic-Jewish dialogue to a new level," said Waxman. Willebrands also announced that his commission will prepare an official...
Those developments set the stage for Castel Gandolfo, where the nine Jewish representatives began by reciting Psalm 113 in Hebrew, after which John Paul and Willebrands prayed in Latin; everyone joined in a final "Alleluia." The Pope then listened to criticism of his Waldheim meeting without responding. The Pontiff expressed awareness that "the existence of Israel is central" to Jews, said a joint communique, and he "affirmed the importance of the proposed document on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism...
FOOTNOTE: *Last week a government-authorized Austrian commission of six international military historians, including an Israeli and an American, held its first meeting to review the Waldheim accusations. The panel is to report within three months...