A Christian “cannot be an anti-Semite”, Pope Francis told a meeting of Jews at the Vatican on Monday.
Addressing the World Congress of Mountain Jews, the Pope reportedly said while there are still anti-Semitic attitudes in society today, “a Christian cannot be an anti-Semite; we share the same roots”.
“It would be a contradiction of faith and life,” he said. “Rather, we are called to commit ourselves to ensure anti-Semitism is banned from the human community”.
The Pope said there must be an ongoing commitment to ensure anti-Semitism is “banned from the human community”. He highlighted the importance of commemorating the Holocaust and related events.
The latter include the recent 75th anniversary of Nazi deportation of Rome’s Jews and the 80th anniversary of “Kristallnacht”, the night when mobs ransacked thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses in Germany and Austria, which will be marked on 9th November.
The Pope’s comments follow a recent attack on a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh in which a gunman is said to have yelled anti-Semitic slogans as he killed 11 worshippers and wounded six others. It was the worst ever attack on US Jews. A suspect has been charged.
Mountain Jews are the descendents of Jews who left ancient Persia and settled in mountainous communities near the Caspian Sea. They are now spread over many regions with the majority living in Russia and Azerbaijan. Some 1,500 Mountain Jews, mostly from Crimea, were killed during the Holocaust.
Monday’s meeting with the Pope represented the first time a delegation from the community had travelled to meet a Pope.
