Peres: Pontiff would be 'welcome guest in the Holy Land'
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Like his predecessor, Pope Francis reached
out to Rome’s Jewish community at the very start of his pontificate,
pledging to continue to strengthen the increasingly close ties between
Catholics and Jews.
Just hours after he was elected the first non-European pope in
history, Francis sent a letter to Rome’s chief rabbi Riccardo di Segni,
saying he hoped to “contribute to the progress that relations between
Jews and Catholics” have seen since the 1962-1965 Second Vatican
Council.
