When Pope Francis visits the Holy Land later this month, he will be accompanied by a couple of old friends of his from Argentina. The pope will have as two of his travelling companions Rabbi Abraham Skorka, the rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires and Omar Abboud, the director of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue in Buenos Aires. The three will meet in Amman, Jordan and travel together to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
There has been a lot of talk lately about a secret deal between the Roman Catholic Church and the government of Israel for the ownership of David's tomb. The building where the tomb is located is also said to be the place of the last supper where Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples on the evening before he was crucified. The emotion aroused by the rumors of this agreement exposes the religious passions held by Jews for the sacred sites in Jerusalem. But these three men may be a sign of what is to come. Within the Geneva Accord there is an agreement to turn over the control of religiously significant sites to an interfaith body consisting of members of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. According to article 6; "The Parties shall establish an
inter-faith body consisting of representatives of the three
monotheistic faiths, to act as a consultative body to the Parties on
matters related to the city’s religious significance and to promote
inter-religious understanding and dialogue. The composition,
procedures, and modalities for this body are set forth in Annex X."
Why is the pope et al going to Jerusalem? Is it just to see and be seen, a few nice photo ops, create some memories? There have been rumors and reports of secret and not so secret agreements between Israel and the Vatican over the years. Are these three men representing three religions a sign of what is coming to the old city of Jerusalem?
Jewish and Muslim leaders to join Pope’s Holy Land trip
Vatican City, May 8, 2014 / 12:08 am
(CNA/EWTN News).- A rabbi and a sheikh, both of whom are friends of
Jorge Bergoglio from Buenos Aires, will be accompanying him on his
pilgrimage to Jordan, Palestine, and Israel later this month.
Abraham Skorka and Omar Abboud, who
have been participants in interreligious dialogue with the Pope, will
both join the May 24-26 trip, marking the first time that a rabbi and
a Muslim dignitary will have done so.
The pilgrimage will focus on the
encounter between the Bishop of Rome and Patriarch Bartholomew I, the
Eastern Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople.
On the other hand, the dialogue among
the three faiths that share Jerusalem as a holy city will be of
crucial importance, and this is the reason why Pope Francis wanted to
be accompanied by Skorka and Abboud.
Abboud is director of the Institute for
Interreligious Dialogue, in Buenos Aires, and is a former
secretary-general of the Islamic Center of Argentina. He has also
worked in the slums of Buenos Aires.
The interreligious institute was
founded along with Daniel Goldam, a rabbi, and Fr. Guillermo Marco,
former spokesman of the Buenos Aires archdiocese.
“This initiative is part of our
national identity, a fruit that was eagerly cultivated by a number of
leaders and religious leaders thanks to the key impulse given by the
then cardinal Bergoglio to create spaces in which a culture of
encounter could be built,” Abboud told Italian daily La Stampa May
3.
Abboud visited Pope Francis in February
after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem that gathered Catholics, Muslims, and
Jews.
Skorka is rector of the Latin American
Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires, and often met to converse with
Bergoglio; those meetings produced the book “On Heaven and Earth,”
a record of their dialogue.
He visited Pope Francis in June at
Castel Gandolfo, together with participants in a Jewish-Christian
dialogue organized by the Focolare Movement; and also in January.
“Our idea is to make a contribution
to what dialogue means, to what spirituality means, and what the
things of the soul mean, as well as the search for God,” Skorka
told La Stampa Jan. 17.
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