American Jewish Committee Statement on Passing of Pope Francis

American Jewish Committee (AJC) mourns the passing of Pope Francis. The pontiff, who was elected to serve in 2013, died today at the age of 88.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio ascended to the throne of St. Peter after decades as a priest, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal in greater Buenos Aires, where he enjoyed an exemplary relationship with the Argentinian Jewish community. He chose Francis as his papal name, in tribute to St. Francis of Assisi, a forerunner of the interreligious outreach which characterized Francis's papacy.

In continuity with his immediate predecessors, Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, Francis early on in his tenure strongly affirmed positive Catholic-Jewish relations as an integral part of the post-Vatican II Church. Francis made pilgrimages that were substantive visuals of the new era in the Church's understanding of Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel. Among others, these included a state visit to Israel (2014), a visit to the Great Synagogue in Rome (2016), and a visit to the Auschwitz death camp (2016). Pope Francis also repeatedly condemned antisemitism and characterized it as both a sin against God and unchristian.

AJC senior leadership met regularly with Francis in various settings, including many occasions as the Jewish voice in Vatican public consultations on the major issues of the day. AJC delegations met with the pope at the Vatican in 2014 and 2019. At the 2014 audience, Francis thanked the AJC delegation. "I am very grateful to you for the distinguished contribution you have made to dialogue and fraternity between Jews and Catholics," he said. Francis expressed his "great concern" to the 2019 AJC delegation about "an excessive and depraved hatred" spreading in many places around the world. "I think especially of the outbreak of antisemitic attacks in various countries," he said. Francis stressed that "for a Christian any form of antisemitism is a rejection of one's own origins, a complete contradiction."

When a 2023 audience was canceled due to Francis's hospitalization, the AJC delegation gathered outside Rome's Great Synagogue to pray for his full and speedy recovery.

While Israel's defensive fight for survival after the horrific massacre by Hamas on October 7, 2023, yielded both papal empathy and criticism, significant Jewish disappointments with this and other matters were navigated in the spirit of six decades of the post-Nostra Aetate relationship.

"In this sixtieth anniversary year of Nostra Aetate, as we celebrate the positive transformation of Catholic-Jewish relations and AJC's unique leadership on that path, we must also address the challenges that lie ahead. In that spirit, we are grateful for Pope Francis's indispensable leadership and contributions in this shared journey," said Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC's Director of Interreligious Affairs. "We stand in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters during this time of mourning. May the memory of Pope Francis be for a blessing."

AJC is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. With headquarters in New York, 25 regional offices across the United States, 15 overseas posts, as well as partnerships with 38 Jewish community organizations worldwide, AJC's mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. For more, please visit www.ajc.org .

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