On the pope and his planned visit to shul

Pope Adds Meetings With Jewish Leaders, Including Synagogue Visit, to U.S. Itinerary - New York Times

I am horrified to learn that the Park East Synagogue intends to let itself be used by Pope Benedict next week. According to the Times, the venerable Orthodox shul plans to welcome the Pope into its sanctuary at 5Pm on Friday, 18 April, which, by my lights, makes the visit all the more horrifying.

The 18th of April is erev shabbos, and also erev pesach; 5 pm is less than three hours before candles. Why have these Jews from Manhattan agreed to welcome the Pope at such an inconvenient time? Must we still bend-over-backwards to accommodate this man's fancy? Will we forever be required to run the Palio for him? At this late date in history we Jews need nothing from the Pope. He has nothing to offer us. He can't help us, and by the grace of God, he can no longer hurt us, either. If the leaders of Park East Synagogue hadn't misplaced their backbones, they might have realized this and asked the Pope to choose a less disruptive hour for his visit.

But a better question is this: Why has the shul agreed to the visit at all? The pope isn't coming to shul because he loves us; he's coming to whitewash history. For the last thirty years the Vatican has actively denied its anti-Jewish past, and distorted its culpable role in creating the anti-Jewish climate that made the Holocaust possible. This visit, this bogus extension of "Passover Greetings", this make-believe show of friendship while the many perpetrators of anti-Jewish Papal activity remain not only unrenounced but, in some cases, beatified and canonized is part of that dishonest, unreflective campaign. The Jews of Park East Synagogue are now a party to it. They have allowed themselves to be turned into the Pope's puppets, and on their behalf I am deeply ashamed.