VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 142
DATE 28-07-2015

Summary:
- A blessing to one another: John Paul II and the Jewish People
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 A blessing to one another: John Paul II and the Jewish People
 Vatican City, 28 July 2015 (VIS) - "A blessing to one another: Pope John Paul
II and the Jewish People" is the title of an exhibition opening today in the
Vatican (Charlemagne Wing, 29 July to 17 September), previously displayed in a
number of state capitals in the U.S.A., where it received more than a million
visitors.
 The exhibition, presented as a gift to John Paul II for his 85th birthday, was
inaugurated at the Xavier University of Cincinnati, Ohio, on 18 May 2005, just
a
month after the Pope's death. It then arrived in Rome, and while in Europe its
organisers wanted it to visit Krakow, the Polish city where Karol Wojtyla was
archbishop.
 "A blessing to one another" describes the steps the Pontiff took to improve
the
relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people, and reflects
the
continuing relevance of the conciliar declaration "Nostra Aetate", issued fifty
years ago, in which the Catholic Church expresses her appreciation for other
religions and reaffirms the principals of universal fraternity, love and
non-discrimination.
 Funded by various universities and private individuals and bodies who see
interreligious dialogue as a source of progress for humanity, the exhibition
narrates John Paul II's relations with those whom he defined during his
historic
visit to the synagogue of Rome on 13 April 1986 as "our elder brothers". It is
divided into four sections and consists of photographs, videos, recordings and
other interactive sources.
 The first section illustrates Karol Wojtyla's early years in his birthplace
Wadowice, what would become a lifelong friendship with the young Jew Jerzy
Kluger, and the relations between Catholics and Jews in Poland during the
decade
1920 to 1930. The second section is dedicated to the Pope's university years in
Krakow, and his work not far from his friends in the Ghetto who knew the
horrors
of the Shoah. The third describes his priestly and episcopal life, Vatican
Council II and the change of direction it represented in relations between Jews
and Christians, and the close link between the cardinal archbishop of Krakow
and
the Jewish community in his archdiocese.
 The final section considers the figure of Wojtyla as the Successor of Peter,
his visit to the Synagogue of Rome, and his trip to Israel in the year 2000
when
he left a prayer in the Western Wall asking for divine forgiveness for the
treatment that Jews had received in the past and reaffirming the Church's
commitment to a path of fraternal continuity with the People of the Covenant.
Visitors to "A blessing to one another" are invited to write a prayer to be
placed in a reproduction of the Wall. They will be gathered and deposited in
the
Western Wall without being read.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 28 July 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - appointed Bishop Salvador Gimenez Valls of Menorca, Spain, as bishop of
Lleida (area 2,977, population 233,531, Catholics 207,167, priests 131,
permanent deacons 5, religious 195), Spain. He succeeds Bishop Joan Piris
Frigola, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon
reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.
 - gave his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the
Patriarchal Maronite Church, of Rev. Paul Abdel Sater as bishop of the
patriarchal curia. The bishop-elect was born in 1962 in Ain El Remmaneh,
Lebanon, and was ordained a priest in 1987. He studied moral theology and
science of education in Boston, U.S.A., and since returning to Lebanon has
served as deputy priest, parish priest, school director, and eparchial bursar.
He is currently syncellus for economic affairs and parish priest of the "Saint
Jean" parish in Beirut.

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