Relations with the Jews, the culture of death, and America magazine

Pope Benedict apparently wrote in a note prepared for the 90th birthday of Elio Toaff (former chief rabbi of Rome) that Catholics and Jews can continue their dialog "looking with confidence to the future." This news item is of possible significance to the fulfillment of the prophecy in that olives are traditionally associated with Israel (not to mention Italy). The article says "Benedict has reached out several times to Jews in the first weeks of his papacy. One of his first acts was to invite Rome's chief rabbi to his April 24 installation Mass. During his homily that day, Benedict made specific mention of 'a great shared spiritual heritage' with Jews." Catholic/Jewish relations improved significantly under Pope John Paul II, who made groundbreaking visits to the synagogue in Rome in 1986 and his visit to Israel in 2000. Pope Benedict, in one of his first acts, invited the chief rabbi of Rome to his installation Mass (April 24) and in that Mass referred to the "great spiritual heritage" Catholics have with Jews. It would certainly be a magnificent thing if Catholics and Jews were able to work more closely together to combat things like secular humanism.

On Saturday, the Pope assumed his role as Bishop of Rome and came out hard against euthanasia and abortion saying "The freedom to kill is not a true freedom but a tyranny that reduces the human being to slavery." And this was just his first address as bishop of Rome.

Last week, heavy criticism from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Pope Benedict's former office) forced the resignation of Father Thomas Reese as editor of the Jesuit magazine America. This magazine has simply ignored the Vatican's decision on (among other things) women becoming priests, and has continued to push for it as if the matter was not settled. The fact that this resignation has happened in the opening days of the new potificate and not years ago is a sign that Pope Benedict is going to be more aggressive at pulling out the weeds in the vinyard than his predecessor. As an orthodox Catholic in America, I have to say that I couldn't be more happy. The Catholic Church in America is drowning from the watering down of doctrine by so-called "progressives" and this problem has pervaded into our seminaries, our Catholic Universities, and even our parish schools. It's almost impossible for an orthodox Catholic to join most seminaries. This is why vocations are in such a crisis situation here.