Pope Francis met with top European rabbis Monday in the Vatican to discuss growing anti-Semitism in Europe as well as the recent attacks by Islamist radicals on Christian communities in Africa and the Middle East, Vatican Radio said. It’s the first time the Vatican has received a delegation from the Conference of European Rabbis, a group representing more than 700 rabbis from synagogues across the continent.
“An era of constructive dialogue between the Vatican and Europe has arrived,” Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the conference and the chief rabbi of Moscow, told Russia’s Interfax news agency. “We are allies today and we deeply respect Pope Francis as a person who has played an enormous role in promoting the development of interfaith dialogue and in establishing peaceful relations between nations and religions.”
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