Pope John Paul II

The Pope has died. This Pope will always be remembered for his work in defeating the forces of tyranny in eastern europe. That is enough of an accomplishment for anybody. But, Pope John Paul II also reached out to Jews. Here is an excerpt from a Gary Wills article:

Pope John Paul II deserves great credit for his work to correct injustices inflicted by Catholics on those of other faiths. He has reached out not only to Jews but to Orthodox and Protestant Christians; but his greatest efforts, his repeated ones, have to do with the Jews. He has issued a statement, We Remember, lamenting the Holocaust and many Catholics' inadequate response to it. He publicly and ceremonially apologized to the Jews at a Lenten service this year. He visited a synagogue and in March visited Israel and manifested sincere anguish at what Jews have suffered

I hope the next Pope continues the reconciliation between Catholics and Jews; there is still more work to be done.