ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
TO A GROUP OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE "B'NAI B'RITH INTERNATIONAL"

Monday, 11 March 1996

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to welcome once more a group of representatives of B nai B'rith International. The significance of your visit lies in the fact that it is an opportunity for us all to re-commit ourselves to the joint efforts needed to build ever greater understanding and solidarity between Catholics and Jews. At a time when hopes for peace have again been jeopardized by recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, we must renew our prayer and our efforts to insist on what unites rather than on what divides and separates.

An essential tool for advancing mutual understanding and creating an ever closer rapport between Catholics and Jews is education. In this education, an essential element from both of our traditions is memory. The memory of our respective traditions, of the good and the bad of past relations, should teach us humble faith and trusting hope. It should guide us as we seek "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God" (Cfr. Mic. 6, 8). It will strengthen our responsibility and commitment.

This is the path to which we are committed, and I pray that the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, will grant us his bounteous mercy and grace so that we may truly progress down this path together. Upon all of you I invoke abundant divine blessings.

© Copyright 1996 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana