c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In 1998, my wife and I were guests at St. Martha’s, the beautiful Vatican City residence where the cardinals are currently housed during their conclave to elect a new pope. And like millions of other visitors to Rome, we visited the refurbished Sistine Chapel, where the actual voting will take place.

Because both St. Martha’s and the Chapel are closed to the public during the conclave, I am not able to deliver a personal message to the cardinals.

But all is not lost.

Dear Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church:

When John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue in Rome, he declared that Jews are “our elder brothers in faith.” John Paul II repeatedly stressed that Christianity has a unique relationship with Judaism that it does not share with any other faith.

As your “elder brother in faith,” I write this open letter in the hope you will choose a new pope who will strengthen John Paul II’s extraordinary work in building Catholic solidarity and friendship with the Jewish people. Indeed, the late pope personally affirmed that close relationship in his will. Rabbi Elio Toaff of Rome is one of only two people specifically mentioned in that document.

I met the late pope 10 times, the first in Miami in 1987 and the last five years ago in Israel. John Paul II earned the trust and respect of the Jewish community and he will occupy an honored place in our history books.

I know you rejoice that Karol Wojtyla was your spiritual leader for 26 years, but now you must move forward. Our two communities have survived for thousands of years, and during that time we learned to revere our great leaders. But we also learned that ultimately it is the people who truly guarantee our survival as Jews and Catholics.

Scholars speak of 3,500 years of Jewish continuity, and the third Christian millennium has recently commenced. During the past 2,000 years, Jews, the spiritual children of Jerusalem, and Catholics, the spiritual children of Rome, have lived together, but often have been engulfed in dark bitter shadows of bigotry, hatred and lethal violence aimed at my people. Happily, we now live in an era of growing mutual respect, knowledge and understanding. Much of that positive change in our relationship is the result of John Paul II’s pioneering efforts.

I urge the new pope to intensify John Paul II’s work in Catholic-Jewish relations. Forty years have passed since the world’s Catholic prelates, including Bishop Wojtyla, overwhelmingly adopted the “Nostra Aetate” (“In Our Time”) declaration at the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. That authoritative statement called for a radical change in the way Catholics teach, preach and treat Jews and Judaism.

“Nostra Aetate” strongly repudiated all forms of anti-Semitism, and it also repudiated the ugly false teaching that the Jewish people committed deicide _ that is, they killed Jesus.

But neither “Nostra Aetate” nor the other positive Catholic teachings that followed were fully implemented throughout the world. One way to honor the late pope’s memory is to make certain those important teachings are taught in every church, every catechetical class, every Catholic college and university and every seminary around the globe.

I am fully aware the new pope must devote energy and time to the critical issues within the Church. But as the vast outpouring of affection and esteem for John Paul II showed, we are living in a global village where communication, travel and personal contacts have shattered the isolation that separated religious communities in the past.

In fact, because of John Paul II’s celebrated record of achievement, the whole world will be watching to see how the new pope relates to the Jewish community at a time of growing virulent anti-Semitism not only in the Muslim world, but sadly in the heart of what John Paul II called “Christian Europe.”

When Moses, the Great Liberator and Lawgiver, died on Mount Nebo facing the Promised Land of Israel just across the River Jordan, his work was incomplete. The ancient Hebrews mourned the loss of their great leader and wept.

However, the sacred work inaugurated by Moses went forward under Joshua, who uttered the powerful words that defined John Paul II’s pontificate: “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be dismayed” (Joshua 1:9).

I look forward to greeting the new pope in person. But if not, I can always send him an open letter. In the meantime, please accept these words in Hebrew, Latin and English_ Shalom _ Pax _ Peace.

LF/JL END RNS

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s Senior Interreligious Adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University.)