WIESENTHAL CENTER: POPE BENEDICT’S CALL FOR VIGILANCE AGAINST ANTISEMITISM "AN IMPORTANT AND TIMELY MESSAGE"

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said today that that the remarks of Pope Benedict XVI at the Cologne Synagogue calling for increased vigilance to combat the rising tide of antisemitism was timely and important.

"The Pope’s presence in a synagogue originally destroyed by the Nazis and his call for more vigilance to confront increased antisemitism was an important statement that continues in the path of Pope John Paul II and should put to rest the controversy over his failure to mention terrorist attacks against Israel," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center.

"The fact that in his very first foreign visit as Pope he went to the Cologne Synagogue is an indication of the importance that the Church attaches to its relationship with the Jews," continued Hier.

"I’m confident that Benedict XVI will be as vigorous in confronting terrorism against Jews as he is in confronting antisemitism," Rabbi Hier concluded.

In 2003, Rabbi Hier led a Wiesenthal Center delegation to the Vatican for a private audience with the late John Paul II. It was at this meeting that the Center launched its campaign calling on the international community to recognize suicide bombings as "crimes against humanity."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, or visit www.wiesenthal.com.