Pope Benedict XVI, currently in Brazil on his first visit outside Europe, has received the leaders of Brazil’s Muslim and Jewish communities. At the São Bento monastery in São Paolo, where the Pope is staying, Benedict received Sheik Armando Hussein Saleh, of the Islamic community, who delivered a personal letter and gave him a mantle with symbol of the Abrahamic patriarchate. Saleh said the meeting showed that all of them were open to an ecumenical dialogue for peace.
Rabbi Sobel, the Senior Rabbi of São Paolo’s Jewish community also talked to the Catholic pontiff. After the encounter he told reporters: “I am leaving light and happy. After all, it is not every day that a rabbi receives a blessing from a Pope. With great humility I asked for a blessing from the pope and was blessed. I also asked the Pope's permission to bless him, authorization which was granted." Sobel added: “This Pope is a great friend of the Jewish people. He was the one that assembled the theological structure necessary for the changes that occurred in the Church and the Jewish people during the office of John Paul II.” He added that Benedict had promised to move forward in the search for common ground between the different religions.
photo: www.globo.com
