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American-born pope offers hope of improved Catholic-Jewish relations, religious experts say

JL;DR SUMMARY The election of Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV has brought cautious optimism for improved Catholic-Jewish relations. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunityPope FrancisInterfaith DialogueVatican IiNostra AetateCatholic Jewish RelationsPope Leo XivAmerican PopeRobert Francis Prevost

Places mentioned

Chicago, Illinois, United States
"Prevost, a 69-year-old Augustinian cardinal from Chicago who took the name Leo XIV, brings to his new role no known history of involvement with the Jewish community or record of commentary on key issues such as Israel and antisemitism, experts say."
Chiclayo, Lambayeque, Peru
"He was bishop in Chiclayo, where there is not an organized Jewish community and does not seem to have commented on relations with Jews and Judaism."
Lima, Lima Region, Peru
"Pope Leo XIV has spent most of his priesthood in Peru, where there is a small Jewish community of approximately 2,000 people, mainly in the capital Lima, Edward Kessler, the founder of the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, England, and an expert on Catholic-Jewish relations, told JI."
Israel
"Francis, the first Latin American pope, angered many Jews who felt his harsh criticism of Israels military conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza betrayed a blind spot with regard to a global rise of antisemitism as well as the security concerns of the worlds only Jewish state."
Holy See (Vatican City State)
"Most recently, Prevost had occupied a prominent perch at the Vatican, where he oversaw the office that selects bishops, a position he began in 2023."
Argentina
"In contrast with the Argentine-born Francis, the first post-World War II pope who didn’t really have a direct connection to the Holocaust, Schwartz said that Prevost has a direct connection to Jewish life that could help inform his outreach."

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Retrieved 2025-05-09 05:31:07 UTC
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