Rome, Italy, Sep 18, 2009 / 15:06 pm
In a telegram sent on the occasion of the Jewish feasts of Yom Kippur and Sukkot, Pope Benedict XVI prayed that God would bestow “copious blessings upon all the Jews and constant encouragement in the struggle to promote justice, harmony and peace.” He also announced that in the coming months he would visit the synagogue of Rome.
According to L’Osservatore Romano, the Holy Father offered Rabbi Ricardo Segni of Rome his best wishes that the Jewish feasts “would be a reason for mutual and holy joy” and he renewed his “cordial friendship” with the rabbi.
The Pope said he also hopes to visit the synagogue of Rome after the Jewish feasts have ended, out of a desire “to express to you my personal closeness and that of all of the Catholic Church.”
Rabbi Segni expressed thanks for the gesture and the news of the visit, which would come 23 years after the historic visit of Pope John Paul II on April 13, 1986.
This would be the third synagogue visited by Benedict XVI. In 2005 he visited a synagogue in Cologne and one during his 2008 visit to New York.
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