VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 142   
   DATE 28-07-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - A blessing to one another: John Paul II and the Jewish People   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    A blessing to one another: John Paul II and the Jewish People   
    Vatican City, 28 July 2015 (VIS) - "A blessing to one another: Pope John Paul   
   II and the Jewish People" is the title of an exhibition opening today in the   
   Vatican (Charlemagne Wing, 29 July to 17 September), previously displayed in a   
   number of state capitals in the U.S.A., where it received more than a million   
   visitors.   
    The exhibition, presented as a gift to John Paul II for his 85th birthday, was   
   inaugurated at the Xavier University of Cincinnati, Ohio, on 18 May 2005, just   
   a   
   month after the Pope's death. It then arrived in Rome, and while in Europe its   
   organisers wanted it to visit Krakow, the Polish city where Karol Wojtyla was   
   archbishop.   
    "A blessing to one another" describes the steps the Pontiff took to improve   
   the   
   relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people, and reflects   
   the   
   continuing relevance of the conciliar declaration "Nostra Aetate", issued fifty   
   years ago, in which the Catholic Church expresses her appreciation for other   
   religions and reaffirms the principals of universal fraternity, love and   
   non-discrimination.   
    Funded by various universities and private individuals and bodies who see   
   interreligious dialogue as a source of progress for humanity, the exhibition   
   narrates John Paul II's relations with those whom he defined during his   
   historic   
   visit to the synagogue of Rome on 13 April 1986 as "our elder brothers". It is   
   divided into four sections and consists of photographs, videos, recordings and   
   other interactive sources.   
    The first section illustrates Karol Wojtyla's early years in his birthplace   
   Wadowice, what would become a lifelong friendship with the young Jew Jerzy   
   Kluger, and the relations between Catholics and Jews in Poland during the   
   decade   
   1920 to 1930. The second section is dedicated to the Pope's university years in   
   Krakow, and his work not far from his friends in the Ghetto who knew the   
   horrors   
   of the Shoah. The third describes his priestly and episcopal life, Vatican   
   Council II and the change of direction it represented in relations between Jews   
   and Christians, and the close link between the cardinal archbishop of Krakow   
   and   
   the Jewish community in his archdiocese.   
    The final section considers the figure of Wojtyla as the Successor of Peter,   
   his visit to the Synagogue of Rome, and his trip to Israel in the year 2000   
   when   
   he left a prayer in the Western Wall asking for divine forgiveness for the   
   treatment that Jews had received in the past and reaffirming the Church's   
   commitment to a path of fraternal continuity with the People of the Covenant.   
   Visitors to "A blessing to one another" are invited to write a prayer to be   
   placed in a reproduction of the Wall. They will be gathered and deposited in   
   the   
   Western Wall without being read.   
      
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    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 28 July 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - appointed Bishop Salvador Gimenez Valls of Menorca, Spain, as bishop of   
   Lleida (area 2,977, population 233,531, Catholics 207,167, priests 131,   
   permanent deacons 5, religious 195), Spain. He succeeds Bishop Joan Piris   
   Frigola, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon   
   reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.   
    - gave his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the   
   Patriarchal Maronite Church, of Rev. Paul Abdel Sater as bishop of the   
   patriarchal curia. The bishop-elect was born in 1962 in Ain El Remmaneh,   
   Lebanon, and was ordained a priest in 1987. He studied moral theology and   
   science of education in Boston, U.S.A., and since returning to Lebanon has   
   served as deputy priest, parish priest, school director, and eparchial bursar.   
   He is currently syncellus for economic affairs and parish priest of the "Saint   
   Jean" parish in Beirut.   
      
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   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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