Pope Francis receives a delegation of the Conference of European Rabbis

6 Nov 2023

On Monday, November 6, 2023, the Holy Father received a delegation from the Conference of European Rabbis for a private audience in the Consistory Hall.

In his address to the delegation, the Holy Father stated that "Dialogue with Judaism is of particular importance for us Christians, because we have Jewish roots." In fact, "Jesus was born and lived as a Jew; He Himself is the first guarantor of the Jewish heritage within Christianity, and we, who are Christ's, need you, dear brothers, we need Judaism to better understand ourselves," Pope Francis said, noting that it is "important that the Jewish-Christian dialogue keeps the theological dimension alive, while it continues to address social, cultural and political issues."

Noting that "our religious traditions are closely connected: they are not two beliefs that are unrelated to each other, developed independently in separate spaces and without influencing each other," the Holy Father concludes that "one could therefore say that ours, more than an interreligious dialogue, is a family dialogue."

The first visit to the Vatican by a delegation from the Conference of European Rabbis took place on April 20, 2015.