“We believe the allegations you present as proof of Pope Francis and the Catholic Church’s hatred of Jews lack truth and objectivity and have an air of mistrust and character assassination,” SACBC members say.
They add, “Given the renewed religious dialogue with the Jewish people and the diplomatic relationship that exists between the Catholic Church and the State of Israel, your public attack on the Pope is regrettable.”
SACBC members fault Rabbi Goldstein’s belief that the Holy Father “hates Jews”, saying, “Nothing could be further from the truth. Pope Francis began his papacy by visiting Israel in 2014. During that journey, he expressed joy about Catholics and Jews being ‘bound by a very special spiritual bond,’ pledging to work to advance further ‘the progress there has been in relations between Jews and Catholics since the Second Vatican Council in a spirit of renewed collaboration.’”
They remind Rabbi Goldstein that at the start of “the atrocious attack, murder and abduction of innocent Israeli citizens by Hamas” on October 7, “Pope Francis clearly and unambiguously condemned it. He personally received some members of families of abducted Israelis by Hamas.”
“Pope Francis is no antisemite, and neither is the Catholic Church antisemitic. He is a friend to the Jewish people and Israel,” Catholic Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa say in the two-page statement issued by their President, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of South Africa’s Mthatha Diocese.
SACBC members further explain, “The right of Israel to defend itself is not in dispute. What is at stake is what is perceived by many nations represented in the United Nations as a disproportionate response on the part of Israel.”
“This is what we understand as the basis of the Holy Father’s comments that this is no longer war but terrorisation of innocent Palestinian citizens that, by many accounts, is bordering on genocide,” the Catholic Church leaders explain and cite the December 22 UN Secretary-General’s report indicating that “more than 20,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed, the vast majority women and children.”
Rabbi Goldstein’s assertion that “the Israeli Army has done more in this war and previous wars to minimize civilian causalities than any other war in recorded history” is incredible against the backdrop of “reports about the Israeli Army bombing schools, hospitals, refugee camps, homes, mosques and churches and not allowing humanitarian aid to come into Gaza,” SACBC members say.
They explain, “These acts make it clear that the war the Israeli government is waging cannot, in any way, be described as meeting the criteria of a just war. Rabbi Goldstein, Israel has every right to defend itself, but what is happening now in Gaza is not a just war.”
“You speak of the attacks on Christians in many parts of the world. This is regrettably true, and they are usually carried out by rogue groups and not by a State, certainly not by a State like Israel that prides itself on being a democracy,” SACBC members further say.
