From the Pope's Message to the Jewish Community on the occasion of the Feast of Passover:

according to the prophet Isaiah, the hope of redemption extends to the whole of humanity: Many peoples will come and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths (Isaiah 2: 3). Within this eschatological horizon is offered a real prospect of universal brotherhood on the path of justice and peace, preparing the way of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 62: 10).Christians and Jews share this hope; we are in fact, as the prophets say, prisoners of hope (Zachariah 9: 12). This bond permits us Christians to celebrate alongside you, though in our own way, the Passover of Christs death and resurrection, which we see as inseparable from your own, for Jesus himself said: salvation is from the Jews (John 4: 22). Our Easter and your Pesah, while distinct and different, unite us in our common hope centered on God and his mercy. They urge us to cooperate with each other and with all men and women of goodwill to make this a better world for all as we await the fulfillment of Gods promises.

And from his Address to the Representatives of other religions:

Confronted with these deeper questions concerning the origin and destiny of mankind, Christianity proposes Jesus of Nazareth. He, we believe, is the eternal Logos who became flesh in order to reconcile man to God and reveal the underlying reason of all things. It is he whom we bring to the forum of interreligious dialogue. The ardent desire to follow in his footsteps spurs Christians to open their minds and hearts in dialogue (cf. Lk 10:25-37; Jn 4:7-26).

Dear friends, in our attempt to discover points of commonality, perhaps we have shied away from the responsibility to discuss our differences with calmness and clarity. While always uniting our hearts and minds in the call for peace, we must also listen attentively to the voice of truth. In this way, our dialogue will not stop at identifying a common set of values, but go on to probe their ultimate foundation.

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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