Editing Pope John Paul II (section)

== Relations with Judaism ==
{{Main|Pope John Paul II and Judaism}}
[[Relations between Catholicism and Judaism]] improved dramatically during the pontificate of John Paul II.<ref name="Memory" /><ref name="ADL2006" /> He spoke frequently about the Catholic Church's relationship with the Jewish faith.<ref name="Memory" /> It is likely that his attitude was shaped in part by his own experience of the terrible fate of the Jews in Poland and the rest of Central Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1979, John Paul II visited the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] in Poland, where many of his compatriots (mostly [[History of the Jews in Poland|Jews]]) had perished during the German occupation there in World War II, the first pope to do so. In 1998, he issued ''[[We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah]]'', which outlined his thinking on [[the Holocaust]].<ref name="Cassidy" /> He became the first pope known to have made an official papal visit to a synagogue, when he visited the [[Great Synagogue of Rome]] on 13 April 1986.<ref name="AIJAC" /><ref name="www" />

On 30 December 1993, John Paul&nbsp;II established formal diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the [[State of Israel]], acknowledging its centrality in Jewish life and faith.<ref name="AIJAC" />

On 7 April 1994, he hosted the ''[[Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah|Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust]]''. It was the first-ever Vatican event dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews murdered in World War II. This concert, which was conceived and conducted by US conductor [[Gilbert Levine]], was attended by the Chief Rabbi of Rome [[Elio Toaff]], the President of Italy [[Oscar Luigi Scalfaro]], and survivors of the Holocaust from around the world. The [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]], actor [[Richard Dreyfuss]] and cellist [[Lynn Harrell]] performed on this occasion under Levine's direction.<ref name="Shoah Speech" /><ref name="Timeline" /> On the morning of the concert, the pope received the attending members of survivor community in a special audience in the [[Apostolic Palace]].

In March 2000, John Paul&nbsp;II visited [[Yad Vashem]], the national Holocaust memorial in Israel, and later made history by touching one of the holiest sites in Judaism, the [[Western Wall]] in Jerusalem,<ref name="ADL2006" /> placing a letter inside it (in which he prayed for forgiveness for the actions against Jews).<ref name="BBCIsrael" /><ref name="ADL2006" /><ref name="AIJAC" /> In part of his address he said: "I assure the Jewish people the Catholic Church ... is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of [[anti-Semitism]] directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place." He added that there were "no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust."<ref name="BBCIsrael" /><ref name="ADL2006" /> He added: "We are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant."<ref name="Online News" /> [[Israeli cabinet]] minister Rabbi [[Michael Melchior]], who hosted the pope's visit, said he was "very moved" by the pope's gesture.<ref name="BBCIsrael" /><ref name="ADL2006" /> He said: "It was beyond history, beyond memory."<ref name="BBCIsrael" />

In October 2003, the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL) issued a statement congratulating John Paul II on entering the 25th year of his papacy. In January 2005, John Paul II became the first pope known to receive a [[priestly blessing]] from a rabbi, when Rabbis [[Benjamin Blech]], Barry Dov Schwartz, and Jack Bemporad visited the Pontiff at [[Clementine Hall]] in the Apostolic Palace.<ref name="PTWF" />

Immediately after John Paul II's death, the Anti-Defamation League said that he had revolutionised Catholic-Jewish relations, saying that "more change for the better took place in his 27-year Papacy than in the nearly 2,000 years before."<ref name="ADL2" /> In another statement issued by the [[Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council]], Director Colin Rubenstein said, "The Pope will be remembered for his inspiring spiritual leadership in the cause of freedom and humanity. He achieved far more in terms of [[Christian–Jewish reconciliation|transforming relations]] with both the Jewish people and the State of Israel than any other figure in the history of the Catholic Church."<ref name="AIJAC" /> In April 1986, John Paul II said: "With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and in a certain way, it could be said that you are our ''elder'' brothers."<ref name="Quotes" />

In an interview with the [[Polish Press Agency]], [[Michael Schudrich]], chief rabbi of Poland, said that never in history did anyone do as much for Christian-Jewish dialogue as John Paul II, adding that many Jews had a greater respect for the late pope than for some rabbis. Schudrich praised John Paul II for condemning anti-Semitism as a sin, which no previous pope had done.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.fakt.pl/zydzi-szanowali-JPII-bardziej-niz-rabinow,artykuly,101875,1.html |title=Żydzi szanowali JPII bardziej niż rabinów |language=pl |trans-title=Jews respect John Paul II more than the rabbis |date=21 April 2011 |publisher=Fakt |access-date=22 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109084810/http://www.fakt.pl/zydzi-szanowali-JPII-bardziej-niz-rabinow%2Cartykuly%2C101875%2C1.html |archive-date=9 November 2014 }}</ref>

On John Paul II's beatification, the Chief Rabbi of Rome [[Riccardo Di Segni]] said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'' that "John Paul II was revolutionary because he tore down a thousand-year wall of Catholic distrust of the Jewish world." Meanwhile, [[Elio Toaff]], the former Chief Rabbi of Rome, said that:

<blockquote>"Remembrance of the Pope Karol Wojtyła will remain strong in the collective Jewish memory because of his appeals to fraternity and the spirit of tolerance, which excludes all violence. In the stormy history of relations between Roman popes and Jews in the ghetto in which they were closed for over three centuries in humiliating circumstances, John Paul II is a bright figure in his uniqueness. In relations between our two great religions in the new century that was stained with bloody wars and the plague of racism, the heritage of John Paul II remains one of the few spiritual islands guaranteeing survival and human progress."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://swiat.newsweek.pl/zydzi--wyrazili-radosc--z-powodu-beatyfikacji-jana-pawla-ii,76146,1,1.html |title=Żydzi 'wyrazili radość' z powodu beatyfikacji Jana Pawła II |language=pl |trans-title=Jews "expressed joy" because of the beatification of John Paul II |date=5 April 2011 |publisher=Fakt |access-date=8 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005133557/http://swiat.newsweek.pl/zydzi--wyrazili-radosc--z-powodu-beatyfikacji-jana-pawla-ii,76146,1,1.html |archive-date=5 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>