JERUSALEM – May 23, 2014. Four children from the Hebrew speaking Catholic communities in Israel will assist the Holy Father in the wreath laying ceremonies at Mount Herzl and Yad VaShem on Monday, May 26, 2014. They are children integrated into the Israeli school system which is also preparing the Pope’s visit with a special history program.
Pope Francis will lay a wreath on the tomb of Theodor Herzl in conformity with the demands of Israeli protocol. For the past three years, all visiting heads of state have been asked to make this stop on their official visits to Israel. The Holy Father will be assisted in the wreath laying at Mount Herzl by two Hebrew speaking Catholic children, whose parents belong to the Catholic communities of migrant workers. Both children were born in Israel and have been integrated into the Hebrew speaking Israeli school system.
Likewise, at Yad Vashem the Pope will be assisted by two children from the Hebrew speaking Catholic community. They are from families of Hebrew speaking Israeli Catholic citizens of Israel, one the child of immigrants from Russia and the other the son of Vietnamese refugees.
Source: Saint James Vicariate
About the Israeli school system, the Israeli Ministry of Education sends an outline to history teachers about Saints John XXIII and John Paul II in order to underline these Popes’ excellent relations with Jews, to prepare the visit of Pope Francis. The material on the two Popes was prepared by a small group of academics who are specialists on the Shoah and they underline how both these Popes (before their election as Pope) stood alongside the Jewish people in their dire moment of need. The initiative comes after the Knesset discussion consecrated to Pope John XXIII, which honored him for his contribution to Jewish-Catholic relations. Present at that discussion was the person responsible for the history syllabus in the Ministry of Education, Prof. Orna Katz-Atar who underlined the problem of the negative perception of Christians that is created in Israeli schools by the focus on the negative aspects of Jewish-Christian relations in history. Read here the nrg agency article on the new proposals for Israeli schools
However, in reaction to these proposals, certain figures in the religious establishment have sharply condemned these Ministry of Education proposals. Those involved in the religious education system pointed out that they will not teach about Christianity as it remains hostile to Jews and Judaism. Read here the nrg agency article on the religious reaction
Source: Saint James Vicariate
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