GENERAL AUDIENCE: DIALOGUE WITH JEWS

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 1999 (VIS) - In today's Wednesday general audience held in St. Peter's Square, the Pope spoke about "dialogue with the Jews."

The Holy Father indicated that, despite difficulties over the years in relations with the Jews, there have also been "moments of peaceful and constructive dialogue."
The history of salvation "is illuminated by an immense multitude of saintly individuals whose lives bear testimony to their faith in the life to come. ... The courageous testimony of faith should characterize the collaboration between Christians and Jews in proclaiming and applying God's plan of salvation of the human race. If this plan is interpreted differently as regards the acceptance of Christ, then this naturally presupposes a decisive separation but it does not cancel the many elements that the two faiths still have in common."

The Holy Father went on to highlight that, "above all there remains the duty of collaboration in order to promote a human condition more in keeping with God's divine plan. ... In recognizing God's lordship over all of creation, and especially over the earth, all believers are called upon to translate their faith into a concrete obligation to protect the sanctity of human life in all its forms and to defend the dignity of all our brothers and sisters."

John Paul II indicated that Christians and Jews "find (in the Bible) elements that are indispensable in order to live and enrich their faith. This may be seen, for example, in the Liturgy."

The Holy Father concluded: "May the memory of the sad and tragic events of the past open the way both to a renewed sense of brotherhood, the result of God's grace, and commitment in order that the infectious seeds of anti-Judaism and anti-semitism may never again take root in the heart of man."

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