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Jewish Groups Mourn Death of Pope Francis, Who Condemned Antisemitism and Supported Interfaith Dialogue
Pope Francis holds prayer for migrants and refugees, with the ‘Angels Unawares’ monument, dedicated to the world’s migrants and refugees, behind him in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Oct. 19, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Major Jewish organizations around the world are mourning the passing of Pope Francis, who actively promoted interfaith dialogue between Jewish and Catholic communities and strongly condemned antisemitism.
Francis’s death was announced on Monday morning, one day after he marked Easter with a public appearance in the Vatican. He was 88.
In a released statement, World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder described the Argentine-born Pope, who was the Catholic Church’s first Latin American pontiff, as “a true moral leader, a man of deep faith and humanity, and a steadfast friend to the Jewish people.”
“From his early years in Argentina to his papacy, Pope Francis was deeply committed to fostering interfaith dialogue and ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust remained a guiding lesson for future generations,” Lauder added.
With Francis’s leadership, the WJC opened an office on Via della Conciliazione, mere steps from St. Peter’s Basilica. In November 2022, the WJC’s executive committee held a private audience with Francis and launched the historic “Kishreinu” (Our Bond) initiative, further promoting Catholic-Jewish relations.
“While there were moments of difficulty, particularly in recent months, I remain deeply appreciative of his warmth, humility, and unwavering dedication to meaningful engagement between faith communities,” Lauder stated, seemingly referring to Francis’s outspoken criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. “On behalf of the World Jewish Congress and the more than 100 Jewish communities around the globe, I extend my deepest condolences to all those who were touched by his remarkable spirit. May his memory be a blessing and an inspiration to us all.”
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected to serve as pope in 2013, was the first non-European pontiff since 741. He assumed leadership of the Vatican after serving as a priest, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he “enjoyed an exemplary relationship with the Argentinian Jewish community,” according to the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
Despite making statements over the past 18 months against Israel and its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Francis has been a longtime supporter of the Jewish community and consistently condemned antisemitism. He was reportedly the first pope to visit the tomb of Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl.
“Early on in his tenure, [he] strongly affirmed positive Catholic-Jewish relations as an integral part of the post-Vatican II Church,” the AJC added in a statement. “Francis made pilgrimages that were substantive visuals of the new era in the Church’s understanding of Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel,” including a visit to Israel in 2014, the Great Synagogue in Rome in 2016 and, the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 2016. The pope also met with AJC delegations at the Vatican in 2014 and 2019.
“Pope Francis repeatedly condemned antisemitism and characterized it as both a sin against God and unchristian,” the AJC noted. “Francis stressed that ‘for a Christian any form of antisemitism is a rejection of one’s own origins, a complete contradiction.’”
“In this sixtieth anniversary year of Nostra Aetate, as we celebrate the positive transformation of Catholic-Jewish relations … we are grateful for Pope Francis’s indispensable leadership and contributions in this shared journey,” said AJC’s Director of Interreligious Affairs Rabbi Noam Marans. “We stand in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters during this time of mourning. May the memory of Pope Francis be for a blessing.”
Francis “was a steadfast advocate for interfaith dialogue and mutual respect between religions,” the European Jewish Congress (EJC) said in a released statement. “His unwavering commitment to combating antisemitism and fostering a spirit of brotherhood between Christians and Jews will be remembered with gratitude and admiration.”
“We have fond and enduring memories of our audiences with the late Pope and his deep commitment to fostering dialogue with Jewish communities and fierce opposition to antisemitism,” added EJC Executive Vice-President Raya Kalenova.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), similarly praised Francis’s “untiring efforts in promoting peace.”
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, read a text announcing Francis’s death on Monday from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived. Farrell was accompanied by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state; Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute chief of staff; and Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of liturgical ceremonies. The Vatican did not give a cause of death, but Francis suffered multiple health issues in recent years, most recently overcoming double pneumonia.
“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Farrell read. “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the Father’s house. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wisenthal Center, remembered Francis for his efforts to denounce antisemitism, how he opened the Vatican’s secret World War II archives in 2020 and “urged people of faith to work together for a better world.”
Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who met Francis in 2017, said the relationship between the Catholic and Jewish communities “flourished under Pope Francis’s guidance.”
“He honored the shared heritage of our faiths and took meaningful steps to heal historical wounds, reinforcing a path toward mutual respect and collaboration,” Jacobs noted. “We especially appreciated Pope Francis’s consistent calls for dialogue and mutual respect between Israelis and Palestinians.”
For the first time since surviving double pneumonia, Francis made a grand public appearance in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. He greeted tens of thousands of Catholics, after the Vatican’s celebration of Easter Mass, and shared an Easter message. He called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages – abducted during the terrorist group’s deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – and said the “growing climate of antisemitism around the world is worrisome.” He also condemned the “dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza and reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting.
“I express my closeness to the sufferings … of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” read Francis’s Easter message. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”
In 2013, while speaking to the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, Francis declared, “Due to our common roots, a Christian cannot be antisemitic!”
“I had the joy of maintaining relations of sincere friendship with leaders of the Jewish world,” added Francis. “We talked often of our respective religious identities, the image of man found in the Scriptures, and how to keep an awareness of God alive in a world now secularized in many ways. … But above all, as friends, we enjoyed each other’s company, we were all enriched through encounter and dialogue, and we welcomed each other, and this helped all of us grow as people and as believers.”
Francis also often urged his followers not to forget the lessons of the Holocaust. “The memory of the Shoah [Holocaust] and its atrocious violence must never be forgotten,” he said in a 2018 message, which was relayed through the Vatican’s secretary of state in Berlin. “It should be a constant warning for all of us of an obligation to reconciliation, of reciprocal comprehension and love toward our ‘elder brothers,’ the Jews.”
In 2010, Francis co-wrote, with fellow Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, the book On Heaven and Earth, which focuses on the differences and similarities between Judaism and Catholicism. In 2017, Francis and Skorka co-authored an introduction for Morality and Legality in Dark Times, a book written by three Argentine doctors about medical experiments conducted by Nazis on concentration camp prisoners during World War II. They wrote that the “human arrogance exposed during the Shoah was the action of people who felt like gods, and shows the aberrant dimension in which we can fall if we forget where we came from and where we are going.”
The post Jewish Groups Mourn Death of Pope Francis, Who Condemned Antisemitism and Supported Interfaith Dialogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says
A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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