JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO, POPE FRANCIS, is the first
Latin American to be elected to the chair of Peter. A native of
Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was ordained as a priest in 1969. He
served as head of the Society of Jesus in Argentina from 1973 to
1979. In 1998 he became the archbishop of Buenos Aires, and in 2001
a cardinal. Following the resignation of his predecessor, Pope
Benedict XVI, February 28, 2013, the conclave elected Bergoglio,
who chose the papal name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of
Assisi. He is the first pope to be a Jesuit, to come from the
Americas, and to come from the Southern Hemisphere.
ABRAHAM SKORKA is an Argentine rabbi, biophysicist, and book
author. He is rector of the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in
Buenos Aires, the rabbi of the Jewish community Benei Tikva, a
professor of biblical and rabbinic literature at the Seminario
Rabinico Latinoamericano, and honorary professor of Hebrew law at
the University of Salamanca.
This remarkable book wonderfully demonstrates the warm and positive
relationship Pope Francis has developed with Jews and Judaism.
These honest and respectful exchanges between then-Cardinal Jorge
Bergoglio and Argentinian Rabbi Abraham Skorka on a wide range of
sensitive and complex topics - God, religion, fundamentalism,
politics, and the Holocaust - is a model not only for Jews and
Catholics but for all those seeking productive interfaith dialogue
in helping to repair a broken world. -- Rabbi Eric J. Greenberg,
Director, Department of Interfaith Affairs Anti-Defamation
League
Whether or not they agree with everything that is said, readers of
all religious backgrounds will be impressed by the substance and
frankness of these conversations between Cardinal Bergolio and
Rabbi Skorka. They clearly enact the call of the Second Vatican
Council for "fraternal dialogues" between Catholics and Jews. This
is how religious leaders should speak to one another: on the basis
of sincere friendship and respect. This book will also encourage
anyone who wondered if a pope from a non-European country could be
personally committed to the Catholic Church's new relationship with
Jews. --Philip A. Cunningham, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and
Director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations, Saint
Joseph's University, Philadelphia"
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