A group of ghetto Jews were in Rome yesterday sniveling before the Pope's throne. Their reward? Something spectacular. Something awsome. Something out of this world. Per the headline of the Jerusalem Post's report, the Pope promised them "hope." That's right. Hope.
All together now: Yay.
What a waste of time to meet with the Pope, any pope. In our day, thank god, he has no power, no influence, no ability and, quite possibly, no desire to hurt Jews anymore. But by going to the trouble of shleping to Rome, these Jews suggest we all still live at the Pope's mercy. Even Catholics (who no longer go to church, no longer become priests and nuns and cheerfully flout the Church on birth-control and abortion) know the pope is irrelevant. So why haven't the Jews caught on?
This pathetic pilgramage, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, is nothing but a Vatican PR stunt. What, of substance, was really accomplished at the "remarkable" three-hour meeting, to use the breathless language of the participants? All it did was prop up the Vatican's inflated image of itself, and reinforce the mistaken idea that Nostra Aetate mattered.
You see, the Pope and her admirers imagine Nostra Aetate was revolutionary. The reality is different. Nostra Aetate was nothing but an attempt to recocile the Church with the outside world, a last-minute attempt to catch up with a liberal society that was leaving it behind.
With Nostra Aetate the church didn't lead. It followed. And, as usual it offered the Jews too little, too late.