By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 11/18/04)

On the 66th anniversary of Kristallnacht — the night of broken glass when thousands of synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses were attacked and destroyed by the Nazis — Oded Ben-Hur, the Israeli ambassador to the Vatican delivered a message of hope and peace for Jewish people.

At the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, the center that celebrates Catholic culture and spirituality, nearly 50 people welcomed Ben-Hur on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of formal relations between Israel and the Vatican.

When he took the position of ambassador about 18 months ago, Ben-Hur said that few Israelis knew that there were formal relations between Israel and the pope.

But Ben-Hur had nothing but words of praise for the current pope, a man who grew up in communist Poland and witnessed the plight of his Jewish friends and neighbors. Ben-Hur said that ever since he became pope, John Paul II has shown solidarity with Jews — first by visiting Auschwitz soon after he was installed in 1978, then by visiting Rome’s Great Synagogue in 1986, by establishing relations with Israel in 1992 and with his visit to Israel in March 2000 when he prayed at the Wailing Wall.

"What more can you expect from one pope?" Ben-Hur asked.

By the end of this year, or at the latest the beginning of 2005, Ben-Hur said the 1993 Israeli-Vatican Fundamental Agreement should be complete. This agreement dictates the rights and responsibilities of missionaries and religious working in the Holy Land.

Ben-Hur also optimistically believes that Israel and Palestine are on the verge of peace. Although many fear what will happen following the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, even this event is cause for optimism. Ben-Hur hopes that someone who is more willing to cooperate with Israel will take power, and through getting to know each other and engaging in dialogue, Israel will have a brighter future.

To assist in creating this brighter future, Ben-Hur suggested that if only one-tenth of a percent of all of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics would make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Israelis would see these pilgrims as their partners in facing a common enemy — extremist Islam terrorists.

Ben-Hur was on a whirlwind visit to the U.S. last week. He came to Washington after visiting New York and Baltimore. He was rushed from the John Paul II Center to his next engagement at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.