This morning, Pope Francis met with members of Rome’s Jewish community to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Nazi deportation of Rome’s Jews.  According to Radio Vatican, the pope took the occasion to express his feelings of closeness to the Jewish people.  In his remarks, Pope Francis also issued a ringing denunciation of anti-Semitism:

“We will remember in a few days the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Jews of Rome. We will remember and pray for the many innocent victims of human barbarity , for their families,” said Pope Francis.

“It will also be an opportunity to keep vigilant so that, under any pretext, any forms of intolerance and anti-Semitism in Rome and the rest of the world not come back to life,” the Holy Father said.

“I’ve said it other times and I would like to repeat it now: It’s a contradiction that a Christian is anti-Semitic: His roots are Jewish,” said the Pope. “A Christian cannot be anti-Semitic ! Let Anti-Semitism be banished from the heart and life of every man and every woman!” (more…)