POPE: HYPOCRISY IS A LATIN WORD

I WONDER IF THE POPE BLAMED HIMSELF FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROBLEM BY CONDEMNING ALL TERRORISM EXCEPT THAT AGAINST ISRAELIS AND BY REFUSING TO OPEN THE VATICAN'S WWII ARCHIVES TO EXPOSE IT'S SHAMEFUL BEHAVIOR DURING THE HOLOCAUST.... I DOUBT IT.

Pope Laments Increase in Anti-Semitism
COLOGNE, Germany - German-born Pope Benedict XVI on Friday became the second pope to visit a synagogue, entering to the haunting tones of a ram's horn, praying before a Holocaust memorial and lamenting a rise in anti-Semitism.

"We need to show respect for one another and to love one another," Benedict said, pressing a theme of interfaith understanding that has marked his first foreign trip as pope. The hourlong stop, for which Cologne's Jews stood and applauded, was filled with significance for the 78-year-old Benedict, who grew up in Nazi Germany. He called those times "the darkest period of German and European history."

He made no mention of his own trials, when he was enrolled in the Hitler Youth as a teenager and later deserted from the German army near the end of the war. ...

Rabbi Netanel Teitlebaum held up his right hand, extending it as the "hand of Jewish friendship," and the pope warmly grasped it. Speaking in a synagogue rebuilt after being destroyed by the Nazis, Benedict said that "today, sadly, we are witnessing the rise of new signs of anti-Semitism and various forms of a general hostility toward foreigners." He did not elaborate, but Europe especially has witnessed increasing hate crimes in recent years.

Benedict began the visit by standing quietly with his hands clasped during a Hebrew prayer before a memorial to the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany during World War II — 11,000 of them from Cologne. Then he strode into the main hall as the choir sang, "shalom alechem," or "peace be with you." A shofar, or ram's horn, sounded as the pope sat down at the front. He listened intently as the cantor sang.

The pope underlined his commitment to the interfaith goals of his predecessor, John Paul II, who made the first papal visit to a synagogue in Rome in 1986, worked to improve relations between Catholics and Jews and established diplomatic ties with Israel.

"Today I, too, wish to reaffirm that I intend to continue on the path toward improved relations and friendship with the Jewish people, following the decisive lead given by John Paul II," said Benedict, who did much of the theological groundwork for John Paul's outreach while serving as a Vatican official in charge of doctrine.