Pope Benedict XVI slammed anti-Semitism as theologically unjustifiable and tantamount to being "anti-Christian" in a meeting with French-Jewish leaders in Paris on Friday.
Pope Benedict XVI joins his hands during the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
Photo: AP [file]
The meeting came on the first day of a four-day trip to France, the pontiff's 10th trip out of Italy since his election in April 2005.
"The Church is opposed to every form of anti-Semitism, which can never be theologically justified," he said, quoting French theologian Henri de Lubac as saying he had understood that "to be anti-Semitic also signifies being anti-Christian."
Benedict lamented the victims of anti-Semitism, saying: "Once again I feel the duty to pay heartfelt recognition to those who have died unjustly, and to those that have dedicated themselves to assure that the names of these victims may always be remembered. God does not forget."
He called for greater Christian-Jewish understanding, noting that the two religions' "fraternal bonds constitute a continual invitation to know and to respect one another better."
Rabbi Joseph Sitruk, a former chief rabbi of France, said after the meeting that it had been a "historic rapprochement between Judaism and the Church."
Benedict also met with French cultural leaders and leaders of the country's Muslim community.
More than a quarter million turned out in Paris for Benedict's outdoor Mass on Saturday morning.
In his homily, the pope focused on the ills of modern materialism, condemning unbridled passion for power, possessions and money.
"Has not our modern world created its own idols?" Benedict, 81, said, wondering out loud whether people have "imitated, perhaps inadvertently, the pagans of antiquity?"
Later in the day, the pontiff began a pilgrimage to the shrine at Lourdes, a craggy grotto that he calls a "citadel of life and of hope," that draws millions of pilgrims each year seeking strength and miracle cures.
Jerusalem Post staff and AP contributed to this report
