A couple of thoughts on Benedict XVI's trip to the Holy Land so far

Fr. Thomas D. Williams, LC, puts it well. Writing for ZENIT, Fr. Williams sums up much of the turmoil and tension that has preceded, accompanied, and followed Pope Benedict XVI during his time in the Holy Land:

We woke up this morning in Jerusalem to newspaper headlines decrying the supposed inadequacy of Pope Benedict's remorse in his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial Monday and in his meeting there with six Holocaust survivors.

Complaints dealt more with omissions -- what critics thought he should have said -- than with what he actually said and did.

Despite his explicit remembrance of the Shoah in his first address in Israel and his unequivocal condemnation of anti-Semitism ("Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found"), a raft of reports claimed that he didn't go far enough. Some took issue with the fact that the words "Nazi" and "murder" didn't appear in his Vad Yashem address, while others felt that the Pope should have apologized for alleged Catholic complicity in the Holocaust. Others still blamed the Pope himself for having been drafted into the German army (though he later defected) and for showing too little emotion in his Yad Vashem speech.

One hardly knows where to begin in the face of this wave of criticism (I have only scratched the surface). It appears that some of the Holy Father's hearers would not be satisfied with anything the Pope could say or do, short of falling on his face and begging the earth to swallow him up in utter shame. In return for what seemed to me a sincere and humble overture of peace and reconciliation, the Holy Father has been taken to task as if he were personally responsible for Jewish suffering in the world.

I struggled in vain to explain to several Israelis that the Pope isn't an outwardly emotional man, so whatever outpouring of distress they expected from him just doesn't correspond to his nature. I invited them to look more to the Pope's personal decision to address this issue so frankly, and to visit the Holocaust memorial as the centerpiece of his first day in Israel (which he certainly wasn't required to do), as evidence of his deep-felt concern. Unfortunately these arguments fell into a void.

Unfortunately, the void is substantial. But it is hardly new or surprising, and the Holy Father surely knew he was facing a daunting task. Fr. Williams articulates well the sense I've gotten from many of the reports of criticism; it certainly appears some critics will not rest until Benedict renounces Christ and Christianity and begs to become a Jew, Muslim, secularist, Zionist, anti-Semite, etc. It is, in far too many cases, simply ridiculous. The complaint about Benedict not mentioning the specific number of Jews murdered in the Shoah causes me to wonder: how many people know of the millions of Christians—most of them Polish Catholics—also exterminated by the Nazis? How often are they spoken of in schools, or mentioned by Jewish leaders, or remembered by, well, anyone? Why is that the case?

One thing I am more certain of is that anyone who wants to get a good sense of how Benedict thinks of Judaism, especially within the big picture of salvation history, should read his book, Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, the Church and the World , published in German in 1998 and in English, by Ignatius Press, in 1999. It is an important and often profound little book; but I've yet to see it referenced or mentioned in any news pieces. That is unfortunate, as it is, as is usual with Ratzinger/Benedict, penned with both nuance and clarity. Here is a brief excerpt:

For, through the encounter with Jesus of Nazareth, the God of Israel has become the God of the nations of the world. Through him the promise has indeed been fulfilled that the nations shall pray to the God of Israel as the one God, that the "mountain of the Lord" will be lifted up above the other mountains. ... The Church, too, waits for the Messiah she already knows, the Messiah who has yet to manifest his glory. Obedience and promise are inextricably linked in the Christian faith. Christ, for the Christian, is Sinai present here and now, the living Torah, who imposes duties upon us and challenges us to obedience, at the same time drawing us into the broad arena of love and its inexhaustible possibilities. Thus he is the guarantor of our hope in the God who will not allow history to fall into the non-being of what is past, but holds it fast and brings it to its desination. It follows, therefore, that the figure of Christ both links and separates Israel and the Church. It is not within our power to overcome the separation, but it keeps both of us to the path that leads to the One who comes. To that extent the relationship between us must not be one of enmity. (pp. 103-4, 106)

More here.

Comments

[Dan]

Carl, I am glad you mentioned the "forgotten holocaust." I sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with me for wondering why it is so utterly forgotten. According to the Wiesenthal website, 5 million non-Jews (mostly Catholic Poles) died in the same manner as the Jews. The truth of the matter is no one has any idea what the actual number is; no one has ever bothered to try to count because no one cares. Someone should ask these journalists how many people died in the holocaust and when the reply comes back "6 million" accuse them of holocaust denial.

On another website a commentator noted something that I had forgotten: the Nazis killed one of the Pope's first cousins, who had Downs syndrome. The press is oh so interested in the Pope's personal involvement as an adolescent with what was going on in Germany during the war yet, somehow, never mentions this striking detail.

[Bryan]

I am happy I wasn't the first to point out the "forgotten holocaust" as well. The figure I learned in college was 10-12 million died in the holocaust. When I visited Yad Vashem this last october I was saddened/dissapointed to see that the only number ever mentioned was 6 million killed.

The Pope obviously knows the real numbers, so his saying 'millions' instead of '6 million' or '10-12 million' seems like a much safer approach.