Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Catholic Sect Head: Jews 'Enemies of Church'
Israel National News - Arutz Sheva:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163995#.UOzyOVI9WKI
Head of Catholic Sect Calls Jews 'Enemies of Church'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163995#.UOzyOVI9WKI
Head of Catholic Sect Calls Jews 'Enemies of Church'
Vatican
reaffirms its commitment to dialogue with Jews after head of a
traditionalist breakaway group called them "enemies of the Church."
By Rachel Hirshfeld
1/8/2013
The Vatican reaffirmed its commitment to dialogue with the Jewish people after the head
of a traditionalist breakaway group called Jews "enemies of the Church"
in a late December video, which is currently circulating on YouTube.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), said on Dec. 28 that "the enemies of the Church: the Jews, the Masons, the modernists" were opposing the group's reconciliation with the Church.
Chief spokesman for the Vatican, Rev. Federico Lombardi, on Monday called Fellay’s comment "meaningless" and "unacceptable.”
"[B]oth Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II personally engaged in dialogue with Jews," he said, noting their visits to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Lombardi declined to comment on the potential impact of Fellay's words on the dialogue between the Vatican and the SSPX breakaway group.
In a statement, the American branch of the SSPX dismissed the “false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech” made against the group, maintaining that the SSPX leader used the word “enemies” as a “religious concept,” referring to “any group or religious sect which opposes the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation of souls.”
Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization that combats anti-Semitism, said, “Bishop Fellay’s description of Jews as ‘enemies’ amply proves once again the deep rooted anti-Semitism that lies at the heart of the SSPX’s theology.”
“Despite all of the group’s efforts to present a cleansed public face, their teaching of hate still seeps to the surface,” he added. “Instead of blaming their traditional bogeymen of Jews and Masons for their problems with the Church, and accusing these enemies of being responsible for subverting the Church through the Vatican II, which shifted the relationship between Catholics and Jews into a positive direction in 1965, they would be better served by acknowledging the teachings of Vatican II and cleansing their theology of the bigotry that it espouses."
Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), said on Dec. 28 that "the enemies of the Church: the Jews, the Masons, the modernists" were opposing the group's reconciliation with the Church.
Chief spokesman for the Vatican, Rev. Federico Lombardi, on Monday called Fellay’s comment "meaningless" and "unacceptable.”
"[B]oth Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II personally engaged in dialogue with Jews," he said, noting their visits to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Lombardi declined to comment on the potential impact of Fellay's words on the dialogue between the Vatican and the SSPX breakaway group.
In a statement, the American branch of the SSPX dismissed the “false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech” made against the group, maintaining that the SSPX leader used the word “enemies” as a “religious concept,” referring to “any group or religious sect which opposes the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation of souls.”
Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization that combats anti-Semitism, said, “Bishop Fellay’s description of Jews as ‘enemies’ amply proves once again the deep rooted anti-Semitism that lies at the heart of the SSPX’s theology.”
“Despite all of the group’s efforts to present a cleansed public face, their teaching of hate still seeps to the surface,” he added. “Instead of blaming their traditional bogeymen of Jews and Masons for their problems with the Church, and accusing these enemies of being responsible for subverting the Church through the Vatican II, which shifted the relationship between Catholics and Jews into a positive direction in 1965, they would be better served by acknowledging the teachings of Vatican II and cleansing their theology of the bigotry that it espouses."
Thursday, January 03, 2013
24-Year-Old Jew Murdered in Iran
From Israel National News - Arutz Sheva:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163831#.UOYbq1I9WKI
"24-Year-Old Jew Murdered in Iran
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163831#.UOYbq1I9WKI
"24-Year-Old Jew Murdered in Iran
24-year-old Daniel Magrufta, who was dating the daughter of a member of the Revolutionary Guards, was murdered in Iran.
By Elad Benari
1/3/2013
A 24-year-old Iranian Jew, a member of one the most well-known and wealthiest families in Iran, was murdered last week, Channel 2 News reported on Wednesday.
According to the report the man, who was identified as Daniel Magrufta, was dating the daughter of a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The report added that it was at first believed that Magrufta was murdered during a robbery at his home, but no evidence indicating that his home had been broken into was found.
The woman whom Magrufta was dating was reportedly arrested on suspicion of being responsible for the murder but was released without being indicted. Members of the Jewish community in Iran told Channel 2 News that the investigators reportedly told the woman that “if you were involved in killing a Jew, you did a good deed.”
The incident comes just over one month after a Jewish woman was murdered by Muslim extremists intent on taking away her home. The brutal killing took place in the city of Isfahan, today home to fewer than 100 Jewish families.
The woman's family said that a mosque has been under construction near the home. Its worshipers demanded that the family vacate their house in order to expand the mosque building. The owner denied and thugs later came to the home, tied up the woman's two sisters who were living there as well, and stabbed the owner to death.
In 2011, Iran executed an Israeli-born Jewish woman along with her Armenian Christian husband.
The current Iranian government census reports that there are still 8,756 Jews left in the country. In 2009, there were 25,000 Jews across the country; in Isfahan, Iran's third-largest city, there were 1,200."
According to the report the man, who was identified as Daniel Magrufta, was dating the daughter of a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The report added that it was at first believed that Magrufta was murdered during a robbery at his home, but no evidence indicating that his home had been broken into was found.
The woman whom Magrufta was dating was reportedly arrested on suspicion of being responsible for the murder but was released without being indicted. Members of the Jewish community in Iran told Channel 2 News that the investigators reportedly told the woman that “if you were involved in killing a Jew, you did a good deed.”
The incident comes just over one month after a Jewish woman was murdered by Muslim extremists intent on taking away her home. The brutal killing took place in the city of Isfahan, today home to fewer than 100 Jewish families.
The woman's family said that a mosque has been under construction near the home. Its worshipers demanded that the family vacate their house in order to expand the mosque building. The owner denied and thugs later came to the home, tied up the woman's two sisters who were living there as well, and stabbed the owner to death.
In 2011, Iran executed an Israeli-born Jewish woman along with her Armenian Christian husband.
The current Iranian government census reports that there are still 8,756 Jews left in the country. In 2009, there were 25,000 Jews across the country; in Isfahan, Iran's third-largest city, there were 1,200."
