Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Pope Francis' 'brother,' the rabbi, heading to Philly

Abraham Skorka, a spiritual leader of Argentina’s Jews, talks about how his deep friendship with the pontiff began over soccer.

Pope Francis and his close friend, Argentina's Rabbi Abraham Skorka. The two men bonded over football [soccer]. (Photo courtesy Rabbi Abraham Skorka)
Pope Francis and his close friend, Argentina's Rabbi Abraham Skorka. The two men bonded over football [soccer]. (Photo courtesy Rabbi Abraham Skorka)Read more

TALKING SPORTS promotes male bonding, even between an Argentine rabbi and a Buenos Aires bishop who would become pope.

Rabbi Abraham Skorka, a longtime and close friend of Pope Francis, first brushed elbows with the cleric during public events they attended, but "in May 1999 he pulled my leg because my [soccer] team, River Plate, was bad and his team, San Lorenzo, was in first place," the rabbi told me in an email interview.

A trash-talking pontiff?

The prelate's comments "were done in such a sympathetic way that all the distances between us disappeared then, and we began to talk in a direct language and to feel close one to the other," says Skorka.

Over time the conversations became direct, plain vanilla - no jimmies, no fudge. "We understand that this is the only way of dialogue; that euphemisms are a waste of time."

The 65-year-old rabbi will be in Philadelphia on Friday, Sept. 25 to attend the dedication of a bronze sculpture commissioned by Saint Joseph's University to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's declaration, Nostra Aetate. That document fundamentally changed, and began to repair, the relationship between the Catholic and Jewish faiths.

Over the years, the friendship blossomed and a series of their conversations resulted in a book, On Heaven and Earth - and also in an invitation for Skorka to address the World Meeting of Families in September.

The rabbi first met Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he was an auxiliary bishop of the Archdioceses of Buenos Aires at independence day celebrations, which Skorka attended as a representative of the Jewish community.

After Bergoglio was appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires, deeper dialogues began. Skorka mentioned to Bergoglio the direct style of homilies.

"You speak using the prophetic language, and the next day the press analyzes your words as a political message," Skorka observed.

The tea-leaf reading increased with Begoglio's elevation to lead the church's 1.2 billion Catholics. He speaks as softly as a cat walking on a pillow, but his words can shake governments.

I asked the rabbi if his friend had ever surprised him.

In many ways, he says, but "the most significant was when he bestowed me with a doctorate honoris causa from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina."

Skorka says such a degree bestowed on a Jew was "an impressive turning point in the development of the relationship of the church in its spiritual dialogue with the Jews, and in the history of this university." (Skorka has an earned doctorate in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires.)

The man who would be pope often emphasized both faiths are "parallel and necessary branches developed in the intimacy of Judea in the first century, from the faith of Abraham," says Skorka. "He sees a complementation between them."

When Bergoglio spoke of evangelization, Skorka says, "he always refers to the development of a refreshment of the faith of the Catholics, never to the conversion of Jews as it was in the church in the past."

The 78-year-old Francis is never trapped in the past's dim light. Skorka says the pope has declared that "each one who denies the right of existence of the Jewish people and the state of Israel must be defined as an anti-Semite."

If you are not Jewish, it's hard to feel the impact of those words. For close to 2,000 years the Catholic Church was the wellspring of much of the world's anti-Semitism.

As a child - it didn't happen often in my New York City neighborhood - I was called a "Christ killer."

For Jews, 1965's Vatican II was an incredible game-changer. After two millennia, the church would no longer teach hate and mistrust of Jews. The charge of deicide was lifted.

It was revolutionary. Saint Joseph's was the first American Catholic university to respond, by establishing its Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations. [Personal disclosure: I attended St. Joe's for two years in the late '60s. The Hawk will never die.]

The bronze sculpture to be dedicated on Sept. 25, called "Synagoga and Ecclesia in our Time," will be installed on the plaza in front of the chapel. The symbolism, depicting the two faiths as equals, is important because for centuries the tradition had been to illustrate the church vanquishing the synagogue.

The equality symbolism is reflected in the relationship between Skorka and Francis.

"Since he was elected pope we are in touch through email," Skorka says.

"We used to address one another as 'My dear friend.' Lately we've changed the phrase to 'My dear brother.' "

Phone: 215-854-5977

On Twitter: @StuBykofsky

Blog: ph.ly/Byko

Columns: ph.ly/StuBykofsky