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Pope Francis

(1936 - )

 

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is the 266th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the first pontiff from Latin America. He succeeded Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in February 2013.

Early Life
Election
Speaking Out Against Anti-Semitism
Controversy

Early Life

Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was studying to be a chemical technician when, at the age of 21, he decided to become a priest. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1958, and after attaining degrees in theological studies and psychology, he served as provincial for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. In 1992, Bergoglio was named Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires.

Bergoglio visited Israel in 1973, just before the Yom Kippur War. According to the Vatican, he stayed for about a week and visited holy sites in Jerusalem, Ein Kerem, and Bethlehem.

Bergoglio is said to be on good terms with the Jewish community of Argentina. Local and American Jews thanked him for his response to the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 87 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. In 2005, he was the first public figure to sign a joint statement entitled “85 victims, 85 signatories” against terrorism and demanding belated justice for the bombings. Jose Adaszko of the Israel Mutual Association of Argentina and Omar Helal Massud of the Islamic Center also signed. Bergoglio also published a book with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, president of the Buenos Aires Rabbinical Seminary, that examines various issues from Jewish and Catholic perspectives. Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a Buenos Aires legislator, was referred to by Bergoglio as “one of my teachers.” As Pope, Bergoglio has held meetings and worked with the Latin American Jewish Congress.

Election

On March 13, 2013, Bergoglio was elected as the 266th Pope - the first from the Americas and the first from outside Europe since Pope Gregory III was elected in the year 734. He is the first Pope to take the name Francis, saying that he chose the name to honor St. Francis of Assisi, one who helped the poor. Bergoglio was also a runner-up for the papacy in the 2005 enclave that ultimately chose Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger instead.

Upon his consecration, Francis sent a message to Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, inviting him to mass in the Vatican on March 19. “I sincerely hope to be able to contribute to the progress that relations between Jews and Catholics have enjoyed since the Second Vatican Council,” he said.

Claudio Epelman, director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, said, “I think it is the first time a pope has been elected that the Jewish community knows previously, and has a long history [with],” and that he is “very, very optimistic” about the future of relations between Jews and Catholics. “If you had to choose a pope by Jewish interest, you would have had to choose Bergoglio,” Epelman said. Julio Schlosser, the president of a Buenos Aires synagogue and the other Argentine delegate in Greece, said that Francis is “my friend and a friend of the rabbis” who is “very close to the Jewish community.”

On March 28, 2013, Francis promised friendship, respect, and continued dialogue with other religious leaders. He described the connection between Catholics and Jews as “a spiritual bond” that is “very special.”

“It’s a good start,” Rabbi Di Segni said in a follow-up interview. “Hopefully, we’ll not have any accidents.” When asked about disagreements, the rabbi said, “What is important is the goodwill to solve them.”

Speaking Out Against Anti-Semitism

The Pope has spoken out many times in opposition to anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic behavior. In October 2013, Francis reminded a crowd gathered in Rome of the importance to, “not regress, under any pretext, to any forms of intolerance and anti-Semitism, in Rome and in the rest of the world. I have said it before, and I would like to repeat once more: It is a contradiction for a Christian to be anti-Semitic... May anti-Semitism be banished from the heart and the life of every man and woman!” Not recognizing Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people is anti-Semitic, according to Pope Francis. Francis has a strong positive relationship with the Jewish people and has spent “all of these long years with [my] Jewish brothers,” in Argentina.

Pope Francis reaffirmed his steadfast support for a Jewish homeland in the state of Israel in May 2015, stating during an interview that “anyone who does not recognize the Jewish people and the State of Israel - and their right to exist - is guilty of anti-Semitism.”

The Vatican released a document on December 10, 2015, commanding that Catholics should not try to convert Jews and that the two groups should work together to combat anti-Semitism. Included in the statement was a pledge by the Vatican to “do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic tendencies.” Harsh condemnations of anti-Semitism were offered, and the leadership of the church expressly stated that the church “neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews.”

Pope Francis became the third pope ever to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp on July 29, 2016, where he walked beneath the famous “Arbeit Macht Frei” arch and met with survivors. He visited the cell where Maximilian Kolbe was held, knelt, and prayed silently. The Pope’s only words during the visit, he inscribed in the guest book: “Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgive us for so much cruelty!”

In 2019, amid the global rise in anti-Semitism, the Pope spoke out again. “The Jewish people have suffered so much in history, they have been chased away, they too have been persecuted,” he said. “In the last century we saw so many brutalities against the Jewish people, and we were all convinced that this was over. But today the habit of persecuting the Jews, brothers and sisters, is here reborn. This is neither human nor Christian.” He added: “The Jews are our brothers and should not be persecuted, understand?”

On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Pope said, “If we lose our memory, we destroy our future. May the anniversary of the unspeakable cruelty that humanity learned of seventy-five years ago serve as a summons to pause, to be still and to remember. We need to do this, lest we become indifferent….I never tire of firmly condemning every form of anti-Semitism.”

In July 2021, Pope Francis reversed the position of his predecessor on the use of the Latin Mass, a form of the liturgy favored by traditionalist Catholics that calls for the conversion of the Jews and that, until 2008, included a reference to Jewish “blindness.” Pope Benedict XVI made it easier to use the Latin Mass, but Francis announced that its use would be restricted. Priests must accept “Nostra Aetate,” the Vatican II declaration that condemned anti-Semitism and said the Jews were not guilty of killing Jesus, and get permission from their local bishop.

Controversy

A month later, a controversy erupted when the pope said during an audience that “The law (Torah) however does not give life. It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfil it ... Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.”

Rabbi Rasson Arousi, chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for Dialogue with the Holy See, said the comments suggested Jewish law was obsolete and sent a letter to the Vatican seeking clarification. “In his homily, the pope presents the Christian faith as not just superseding the Torah; but asserts that the latter no longer gives life, implying that Jewish religious practice in the present era is rendered obsolete,” Arousi Wrote.

“This is in effect part and parcel of the ‘teaching of contempt’ towards Jews and Judaism that we had thought had been fully repudiated by the Church,” he added.

The Vatican quickly tried to clear up what it viewed as a misunderstanding. In his response to Rabbi Arousi, Cardinal Kurt Koch, whose Vatican department includes a commission for religious relations with Jews, wrote that the pope’s comment was not a judgment on Jewish law. He also cited the pope’s remark in 2015, “The Christian confessions find their unity in Christ; Judaism finds its unity in the Torah.”

In addition, the pope subsequently said his comments on St. Paul’s writings were “simply a catechesis (teaching homily) ... and nothing else.”

For the first time, a pope hosted the head of Yad Vashem when Francis met with Dani Dayan in June 2022. Dayan said he didn’t discuss controversial issues such as Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. “You don’t sit with the pope on specific files. You sit with the pope on the big issues, on the principles, on the headlines,” Dayan said.

They did discuss how to “bolster collaborative activities” in areas of “Holocaust remembrance, education, and documentation, and to discuss efforts to fight anti-Semitism and racism worldwide.” Dayan added, “We are completely satisfied with the attitudes of the pope personally and the Catholic Church, the Vatican.”

In September 2023, the Vatican took the unprecedented step of beatifying (a step toward sainthood) a Polish family of nine who were betrayed and executed for sheltering Jews. Farmers Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their six young children – Stanislawa, Barbara, Maria, Wladyslaw, Franciszek, and Antoni – hid eight Jews in their farmhouse in the village of Markowa. On March 24, 1944, German police shot the Jews hiding in the attic and then took the Ulma family outside, shooting Jozef and Wiktoria (who was seven months pregnant) and their children. 

In 1995, Yad Vashem awarded Jozef and Wiktoria with the title “Righteous Among the Nations.”

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israelis, Francis met with a delegation of Israelis and Palestinians and stirred controversy when he equated Israel and Hamas. “They suffer so much, I heard how they both suffer...Wars do this, but here we have gone beyond war: this is not war, it is terrorism.”

In February 2024, the pope wrote a letter to “My Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” expressing his concern with the rise of anti-Semitism since October 7. The pope said the Church “rejects every form of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism.”

The pope said nothing about Hezbollah firing rockets daily at Israel when he chastised Israel in September for going “over the top” in its response. “When there is something disproportionate, there is a dominating tendency that goes beyond morality,” said Francis. “A country that does these things—and I’m talking about any country—in a superlative way, these are immoral actions.” He said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon were “unacceptable.”

Francis also spoke out after Israel assassinated a leader of Hamas and Hezbollah, denouncing “attacks, even targeted ones, and killings,” saying they “can never be a solution. They do not help [us] to walk in the path of justice, the path of peace, but generate even more hatred and revenge.” He called for a ceasefire in Gaza: “Let us have the courage to resume dialogue so that there is an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and on all fronts, the hostages are freed, and the people are helped with humanitarian aid.”

On October 30, Pope Francis held a private audience at the Vatican with Alon Kaminer, a wounded Israeli soldier, and a delegation from Sheba Medical Center, where he was being treated.

The pope called for a day of prayer for peace on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre. He spoke of the lives lost and the ordeal of the hostages. He also called the death of Palestinians killed by Israel “tragic.” Calling for an end to war, he said that “even the most imperfect and fragile peace is preferable to the horrors of war, even that which is considered the most just.’”

The pope also sent a letter to Middle Eastern Catholics that day, triggering controversy. In it he urges that Catholics “must never tire of imploring peace from God” and calls for a day of prayer and fasting to “defeat our one true enemy: the spirit of evil that foments war, because it is ‘murderous from the beginning,’ ‘a liar and the father of lies’ ([John] 8:44). Ethan Schwartz, assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at Villanova University, said the reference to this passage was “a disaster this is for Jewish-Catholic relations” became the verse he cited “was understood as a fundamental, eternal indictment of the entire Jewish people, by a Jesus who stood fully apart from and against them.”

The pope spoke out against war and mentioned the war in Gaza in November 2024. “Let us pray for the tormented Ukraine; let us pray for Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, South Sudan, and for all peoples suffering from wars,”  he said. “The innocent suffer: I am thinking of the 153 women and children massacred in the last few days in Gaza.”

The pope was sure to provoke outrage from Israel and the Jewish community with his call for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide in a forthcoming book entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world.”

On December 7, 2024, the pope sparked controversy during the inauguration of a nativity scene in the Vatican, where baby Jesus was placed on a keffiyeh, the Palestinian scarf symbolizing national identity. The symbolism raised concerns, as it played into narratives that seek to downplay the historical Jewish connection to Judea, the region where Jesus was born. Jewish groups, which have long been involved in dialogue with the Catholic Church, were particularly troubled by the move, viewing it as part of a troubling pattern in Francis’s treatment of Jewish and Israeli sensitivities. The pope’s action was seen as aligning with contemporary Palestinian narratives, which some believe undermine the Jewish connection to the Holy Land.

On December 18, 2024, in an open letter to Pope Francis, Israeli Minister of Diaspora and Combating Anti-Semitism, Amichai Chikli, expressed concern over recent Vatican actions and statements, including portraying Jesus as a Palestinian Arab and suggesting Israel might be committing genocide in Gaza. Chikli highlights Jesus’s Jewish identity, the deep historical ties of the Jewish people to Bethlehem and Judea, and the need to combat Hamas’s atrocities, which include the October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Rejecting the misuse of “genocide,” he recalls the Holocaust’s horrors to stress the term’s significance. While appreciating past Vatican efforts to strengthen Jewish-Christian ties, Chikli urges Pope Francis to clarify his stance and foster truth and unity ahead of Nostra Aetate’s 60th anniversary.

On December 20, 2024, during his Christmas address, Pope Francis condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, calling the bombing of children “cruelty” and declaring, “This is not war.” His comments reflect growing outspokenness on the conflict, as he emphasized the human toll and its emotional impact. According to him, his representative, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who serves as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, was not permitted to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded by stating that the Patriarch’s visit was approved in principle and is scheduled for December 22, 2024, provided that no exceptional security circumstances prevent it. Pope Francis’s condemnation prompted a sharp response from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which criticized his remarks as “disconnected” from the reality of Israel’s fight against jihadist terrorism following Hamas’s October 7 attacks. The ministry accused the pope of ignoring the cruelty of terrorists using children as human shields, holding over 100 hostages — including children — for 442 days, and abusing them while decrying what it called double standards and unfair singling out of the Jewish state.

On December 22, 2024, Pope Francis reiterated his denunciation of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, describing them as “cruelty” during his weekly Angelus prayer. He expressed sorrow over “children being machine-gunned” and the bombing of “schools and hospitals,” though he did not specify incidents.

On January 16, 2025, Rome’s cheif rabbi Riccardo Di Segni criticized Pope Francis during a Catholic-Jewish dialogue event for what he described as the pontiff’s selective focus on Israel’s military actions in Gaza while neglecting other global conflicts in places like Sudan, Yemen, Syria, and Ethiopia. Di Segni argued that the Pope’s “selective indignation” undermines his moral authority, emphasizing that a spiritual leader must address all suffering equally. This criticism comes amid Francis’s recent strong statements about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which he called “serious and shameful.” The remarks drew discomfort from event organizer Rev. Marco Gnavi, who expressed surprise and defended the Church’s stance on universal compassion. The event marked the 36th annual World Day of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, reflecting the broader context of improved but occasionally strained Catholic-Jewish relations.

On January 26, 2025, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of remembering the Holocaust and called for global efforts to eradicate anti-Semitism and all forms of religious discrimination and persecution. His remarks came ahead of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. 


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Photo: Quirinale.it via Wikimedia Commons.