Cologne - August 19, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI inside the synagogue of Cologne.
Above, he sits in chair equal to that of the chief rabbi
while awaiting permission to address the audience.
Below, he delivers his speech.
A member of the Jewish audience, Chantal Reich, told the European Jewish Press:
"The Pope looked very impressed, even frail and timid, when he entered the synagogue.
He gave the feeling of a boy entering into the office of a school director"
(online editon, August 19, 2005).
Pope Ratiznger initiated his visit participating in a kaddish, a Jewish prayer,
and received as a gift a shofar, a ram's horn blown to call the Jews in Jewish worship.
It is certainly what the conciliar Popes have done:
they have called for Catholics to become like Jews
and to transform the Catholic Church into a branch of Judaism.
Taken from Tradition in Action