Pope Benedict XVI will embark on his journey to the Middle East from May 8-15, 2009. This trip provides an opportunity to foster dialogue and highlight the close relationship the Jewish community has with the Catholic Church, as well as the remarkable strides that have and continue to occur in the Catholic-Jewish and Vatican-Israel relationships.

The Jewish community of New Mexico extends its warm wishes to Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his upcoming pilgrimage to Israel. We wish the Pope the blessings of a safe journey to the Holy Land. We welcome the papal message of unity and peace and celebrate the abiding and continuing spiritual bonds that this trip represents. We share in this joy with our neighbors and friends in the New Mexico Catholic community, led by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan.

Issues in Focus:

— We join with Catholics worldwide and our friends in the New Mexico diocese to celebrate the pilgrimage of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel.

– This trip is a personal pilgrimage, a visit from the leader of the world’s Catholics, and a mission from a head of state. As such it symbolizes the personal, spiritual and diplomatic bonds between the Pope, his faithful, and the Vatican with the Jewish state.

– This journey is a milestone along a path of rapprochement begun decades ago, most notably with the Vatican declaration Nostra Aetate, continuing with Vatican recognition of Israel, and memorably with the historic visit of Pope John Paul II.

– In any friendship, including one with such a complex history and modern day realities, there are going to be differences, but these are approached as friends, with candor and respect.

– The Pope comes to a land holy to Christians, Muslims, and Jews as a man of faith and a man of peace. We recognize that both Israelis and Palestinians continue to live without security. We share the Pope’s call for peace and reconciliation.

– Constructive discussions continue between Israeli officials and the Vatican on the management of key holy sites that are important to Christians - but also to Jews and others as well. While maintaining Israel’s sovereignty over its territory, and the country’s protection of holy sites and religious freedom for all inhabitants, these are issues to be fairly addressed by the government of Israel in conjunction with its partners.

– Together with Israel and our friends in the churches, we share a concern about the status of Christians in the Holy Land. Israel continues to protect the rights of all religious minorities to pray and access their holy sites. Unfortunately, the Christian community is sometimes used as an actual or symbolic human shield for Palestinians who wish to hold Israel in a negative light. Israel is a democracy with a commitment to civil rights and to maximizing freedoms and access, often under extremely difficult circumstances.

– While there may be instances where individuals and communities may feel a sense of despair given the broader conflict that continues around them, we must remember that it is the sacred duty of a nation to protect its citizens from harm, as Israel does for members of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faith communities.

– Regarding The Holocaust, Pius XII and Yad Vashem:
These are complex issues that matter greatly to the Jewish people. The lessons of the Shoah must be remembered as must those who suffered and those who perished, including the six million Jews. So too must we remember those who took great risks to save lives.

There is an important and continuing conversation about the role of the Vatican during that dark time in history, but this is not an issue with regard to the Pope’s pilgrimage. Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessor, will be visiting the hall of memory at Yad Vashem and paying his respects there.

The Shoah remains a sensitive topic. Like the issue of prospective beatification of wartime Pope Pius XII in advance of the opening and study of secret Vatican archives, the issue of “lost” Jews (who were rescued as children, hidden by Catholics, and baptized) is a painful one. We ask our friends in the church to understand the sensitivity of these issues and respond in kind to those who ask for information on Holocaust-era Jews whose original religious and communal identity has been unknown to their birth families, and often to themselves, for decades.

The Israel-Palestinian conflict is not an interfaith dispute. Peace will come from pragmatic solutions that reconcile disparate and competing national aspirations. Interfaith leaders, however, can play an important role in building trust and fostering coexistence and cooperation.