The World Jewish Congress (wjc) met with the Pope Benedict xvi this week to seek his help in combating anti-Semitism. The meeting covered several issues, including Iran, anti-Semitism as a whole, and Jewish-Vatican relations.

During the October 8 meeting, the pope said Iran was “an issue of big concern,” according to wjc Secretary General Maram Stern. The pope also spoke about how disturbed he was about increasing anti-Semitism. According to Stern, “Cooperation between the Jewish people and the church is a matter that is close to [the pope’s] heart.”

Though this pope’s words wooed wjc leaders, it is appropriate to question their sincerity given the unhappy history of Jewish-Vatican relations. Built on a foundation of centuries of conflict, including the infamous Spanish Inquisition, the relationship has been strained even in recent times. The Vatican did not officially recognize the nation of Israel until 1994. Catholic-Jewish relations have also been strained over Vatican reticence to release archive documents relating to its relationship with Germany during the Second World War. The wjc has accused the Catholic Church of serious moral failings.

By approaching the pope for help, the wjc overlooks the history of the Vatican and even this very pope, Joseph Ratzinger. Shortly after his election, the Trumpetwrote: “Ratzinger was known for statements he made concerning a reconciliation of sorts with the Jews. That reconciliation being, ‘the moment in which Israel too will say yes to Christ’ (Ratzinger, God and the World). In other words, he envisioned the conversion of Jewry to Catholicism! After all, the ‘star points to Jerusalem,’ Ratzinger once wrote (Salt of the Earth). Watch for this new pope to have a more fervent interest in Israeli politics and affairs surrounding Jerusalem.”

Just this year, Benedict lifted the restriction on the use of an old form of the Latin mass which calls for Jews to be “delivered from their darkness” and converted to Catholicism.

Has the Vatican really changed?

According to biblical prophecy, the Jews would do well to heed history’s many warnings about relations with the Catholic Church. In going to the pope for help and putting their trust in a soon-to-be Vatican-dominated European Union, the Jews are lining themselves up for a betrayal worse than what they suffered in World War ii. For more information on this subject, read Jerusalem in Prophecy.