“Crosses are a symbol that hurts Jewish feelings”
By Matthew Wagner
No crosses at the Western Wall was the message sent by a rabbi to a group of Austrian Catholic bishops who refused to hide their Christian crosses before entering the courtyard of the Western Wall, the Jewish people’s holiest prayer site.
Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch refused to give the bishops access to the site and avoided meeting the ecclesiastic delegation of approximately 20, led by Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schonborn.
Rabinovitch denied that the incident, which took place Thursday, smacked of religious intolerance.
“Crosses are a symbol that hurts Jewish feelings,” said Rabinovitch who refused to elaborate on precisely how or why the crosses were so offensive. “I feel the same way about a Jew putting on a tallit and phylacteries and going into a Church. I would be the first to rebuke such a Jew for not behaving like a mensch.” Rabinovitch added that he was surprised the Catholic clerics refused to hide their crosses.
“They did not have to take them off, just hide them. I’ve never encountered a Christian who has refused, including the Pope.”
From a Catholic reader: His Eminence Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP, is not “merely” Archbishop of Vienna, but one of the leading figures in Roman Catholicism, head of all Catholics in Austria, a major figure in the European church, and a contender for the next papacy. As the potential next Pope, this act of petty hatred was a slap in the face to all Catholics. Asking Cardinal Schönborn to “just hide” his cross, as if such an arrogant request was evenhanded common sense, would have required the Cardinal to violate his own religious precepts (Matthew 5:15, Mark 4:21, Luke 11:31, Matthew 10:33). Jewish leaders have become emoldened by the compromises of the last Pope, John Paul II, and feel they are able to make shameless demands. However, despite the fact that Cardinal Schönborn has expressed pro-Zionist views in the past, it is perhaps a sign of the new mood within the church under Pope http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2204 that the Cardinal did not acquiesce.