{ title: 'Courier-Journal. (Rochester, N.Y.) 1968-current, July 02, 1987, Page 1, Image 1', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/np00020004/1987-07-02/ed-1/seq-1/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00020004/1987-07-02/ed-1/seq-1.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00020004/1987-07-02/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00020004/1987-07-02/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Rochester Regional Library Council
Tug of war A forum sponsored *g? local taw- tfc* tangle of «3H*flietiiig mora*, legal and roftdfcai considerations created :*»<\*— m - ^™- T r? Cftureh of $fc 4ames to Wedjug9?Je ; ItajgcftM&> have attracted from aroand the worid* r few from Rochester, See at Cithohc Diocese of Rochester Pope's meeting with Austrian president puzzles local clergymen Public remarks dash hopes of papal rebuke From local and wire service reports Jews and Catholics alike are struggling to understand why Pope John Paul II met with and praised Austrian President Kurt Waldheim last week, in the face of allega- tions that Waldheim is a Nazi war criminal who has lied about his past. Bewilderment is the reaction Father Joseph Brennan, a member of the diocesan Commission, on Interfaith Cooperation, has encountered most frequently among local Jews and more than a few Catholics. \People are asking why this meeting took place, why the pope agreed to it, especially in view of the almost universal boycott against Waldheim by other world leaders,\ Father Brennan said. \High-level politics are always mysterious. One never knows what's going on behind the scenes, but it's hard to understand why the pope should have made this move at this time.\ Even before the pope agreed to a June 25 aud%ce^^i^^M^g|t§ti%^xe|>re^ sent.tives of Jewish ^bups in the United States had threatened to pflE:$ut of a ceremonial meeting with the^pope this September in Miami. They have since recon- sidered that decision, however, and are now suggesting a more substantive discussion with the pope sometime before September. Local Jewish leaders were also taken aback by the meeting. Rabbi Judea Miller of Temple B'rith Kodesh in Brighton said he is more disturbed by the pope's reception of Waldheim than by recent disclosures of sexual, and financial scandals among televi- sion evangelists. \Those (the televangelists' difficulties) resulted from a personal, moral weakness,\ he said. By contrast, the meeting with •\ NC News/UPI-Reutar Auartrta^RiwaUert tf^J^ M * trw Vatk^. Sp««^ audwnce dW -not tary general and asked htm to work for human rights and world peace. Waldheim \was a cynical political decision,\ the rabbi asserted. \The Vatican can't have it both ways,\ Rabbi Miller added. \If (the pope) regards himself as not just- the head of another Balkan constituency, but if he instead considers himself the Vicar of Christ on earth, then he cannot make a purely political decision. I am appalled by this decision:\ Rabbi Scott Glass of Temple Beth El in Ithaca termed the meeting \unfortunate.\ \1 understand that as a world leader and not just a religious leader, this pope has traveled widely and influenced to some extent the practices of world leaders,\ he said. \I don't understand the political expediency of meeting with Waldheim, particularly at a time when such a furor has been raised about his war record.\ Pope John Paul II met privately with Waldheim for 35 minutes last Thursday. No information was released regarding their discussion. After the meeting, the pope praised Waldheim's diplomatic record and asked him to work for human rights and world peace — thus dashing the hopes of some observers that the pope might take the opportunity to somehow rebuke Waldheim. \All your activities in international circles as a diplomat and foreign minister of your country and through your difficult and highly responsible activities in the United Nations were dedicated to achieving peace among peoples,\ the pontiff told Waldheim. The pope then added that he was looking forward to visiting Austria next year. He did not mention the controversy over Waldheim's war record, nor did he repeat previous condemnations of the Holocaust. Outside, in the main street leading to St. Peter's Square, an estimated 150 concentra- tion' camp survivors and Jews from Europe and the United States sang Hebrew and protest songs. Some demonstrators held up a hangman's noose, while others bore signs inscribed with the names of Nazi war camps. Waldheim's meeting with the pope was his first state visit since he was elected to the Austrian presidency a year ago. A former United Nations secretary general who served with the German army in Yugoslavia during World War II, he has been accused of deporting Jews and other Nazi victims to death camps, and of collaborating in other war crimes. Waldheim has denied the allega- tions, saying he was forced to become a Nazi soldier and to follow orders.' Leaders in most Western European countries have been unwilling to receive Waldheim because of the controversy re- garding his past. Italy has refused to grant him a state visit during his three-day stay in Rome last week. The U.S. government has placed Waldheim on a \watch list\ of people who should not be allowed into the country. However, the ruling allows U.S. officials to lift the ban if Waldheim visits as the president of Austria, rather than as a private citizen. Continued on Page 13
