Building bridges with the Vatican

EXECUTIVE Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Robert Goot has been appointed to the senior position of co-chair of the World Jewish Congress’ (WJC) Policy Council.

Goot was in Rome last week attending a meeting of the WJC governing board and a papal audience at St Peter’s Square to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate.

“I am honoured to have been appointed and recognise that the appointment reflects the high regard in which the ECAJ is held in the councils of the WJC,” he said.

The WJC meeting coincided with the main international commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate by the Catholic Church, which was attended by representatives of Israel and the Jewish people.

The meeting saw high level presentations and discussions on topics, including the current waves of terrorist attacks in Israel, the aftermath of the Iran nuclear agreement, countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and interfaith relations.

Stating that he was “privileged” to attend the commemoration, Goot said the great significance of Nostra Aetate was manifest in Pope Francis’s address when he declared that “indifference and opposition” had changed into “cooperation and benevolence”, and “from enemies and strangers we have become friends and brothers”.

“The Council, with the Declaration Nostra Aetate, has indicated the way: ‘yes’ to rediscovering Christianity’s Jewish roots; ‘no’ to every form of anti-Semitism and blame for every wrong, discrimination and persecution deriving from it,” the Pope said.

“Knowledge, respect and esteem for one another are the way. Indeed, if this applies in a particular way to relations with Jews, it likewise applies to relationships with other religions as well.”

Earlier, in a private audience with WJC president Ronald S Lauder, the Pope said, “To attack Jews is anti-Semitism, but an outright attack on the State of Israel is also anti-Semitism.”

“The papal audience at St Peter’s Square was a most significant occasion,” Goot said. “His Holiness recognised that Nostra Aetate not only represented a profound break with centuries of Roman Catholic practices concerning the Jewish people, including the removal of the description from prayers of Jews as ‘perfidious’, but also ushered in a remarkable period of understanding and endeavour between the Roman Catholic church and the Jewish people.”

Goot added: “His comments concerning anti-Semitism, which echoed sentiments he had expressed during a WJC private audience in 2014, were especially gratifying.”

EVAN ZLATKIS