Connect with us

Uncategorized

Israeli rabbis accuse the Pope of ‘teaching contempt towards Jews,’ Vatican shrugs it off

Published

on

Screen Shot 2021 09 10 at 8.43.59 AM

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”682985″ player=”23886″ title=”Why%20Trump%20is%20the%20best%20pick%20for%20Jews%20and%20Israel.” duration=”721″ description=”Reporter Jennie Taer interviews Trump Campaign Strategic Advisor Boris Epshteyn. Epshteyn also serves as co-chair for Jewish Voices for Trump and speaks to v…” uploaddate=”2020-11-24″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/18168/thumb/682985_t_1606241360.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/18168/sd/682985.mp4″]


Pope Francis faced criticism from several Israeli rabbis after his comments about the Torah a month ago. They accused Francis of suggesting that their scripture was obsolete. As a result, they asked him in a letter to clarify his comments. Now, the Vatican wrote its response on Friday, claiming Francis comments did not apply to modern Judaism, but to Christians instead.

The Law According to Francis

At the time, Francis was speaking to a general audience at the Vatican. He paraphrased what St. Paul said about the Torah in the New Testament. Later, he also tweeted a similar sentiment.

“The law however does not give life,” Pope Francis said of the first five books in the Bible, also known as the Torah. “It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it . . . Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.”

Then, chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for Dialogue with the Holy See Rabbi Rasson Arousi wrote a letter demanding 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 said in the letter. “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 said.

The Vatican’s Response

Cardinal Kurt Koch penned a letter in response, obtained by Reuters. His department covers religious relations with Jews. He rejected the notion that the Pope was making any declarative statement about Jews.

“The abiding Christian conviction is that Jesus Christ is the new way of salvation. However, this does not mean that the Torah is diminished or no longer recognised as the ‘way of salvation for Jews,'” Koch wrote. “In his catechesis the Holy Father does not make any mention of modern Judaism . . . The fact that the Torah is crucial for modern Judaism is not questioned in any way.”

Now, Pope Francis’ full address remains on YouTube.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Pope Francis calls for universal ban on ‘so-called surrogate motherhood’

Published

on

Screen Shot 2023 12 18 at 10.42.31 AM

Pope Francis called for a universal ban on surrogacy, likening the practice as an unborn child “turned into an object of trafficking.”

“I consider despicable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs,” Francis said in a speech to the Holy See on Monday.

The “uterus for rent” process, as Francis has called it, was estimated to bring in $14 billion in the U.S. in 2022, and is projected to grow to a $129 billion market by 2032. National Review reports Individual surrogacies can cost anywhere from $60,000 to $200,000 plus in the U.S. Rising infertility rates, an increase in the number of fertility clinics, and “sedentary lifestyles” contribute to surrogacy’s recent popularity, according to Global Market Insights.

“A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract,” Francis continued. “Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally.”

Surrogacy is already banned in many European countries. In the United States, commercial surrogacy, or for-profit surrogacy, is legal in some states, and the practice has been used by celebrities who are very public with their decision to use surrogacy.

Altruistic surrogacy, the method by which a woman carries another person’s child for no official compensation, is legal in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, South Africa, Greece, and Iceland, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The speech was about threats to peace and human dignity. “A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract,” Francis continued. “Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally.”

Francis also listed Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, climate change, and increased weapons production as great threats to peace on Monday.

Continue Reading

Trending