Hindus & Jews laud Pope for embracing Gypsies

Posted on | juni 21, 2011 | No Comments

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed (right) and Rabbi Jonathan Freirich

Hindu and Jews have applauded His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for finally embracing Gypsies (Roma), who they said were facing apartheid in Europe. On June 11 afternoon, Pope Benedict reportedly received two thousand European Gypsies at Vatican City, and addressing them, he recalled their bitter rejection, sorrow, persecution, pain, homelessness, etc. “Your people must never again be the object of abuse, rejection, or disdain!” Pope added.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a statement issued in Nevada today, welcoming Pope’s highlighting of Gypsies’ sufferings, stressed that Pope should come out more openly and strongly backing the 15-million Gypsies who were facing apartheid conditions right under his nose in Europe.

Rajan Zed and Rabbi Jonathan Freirich were, however, critical of Pope using Gypsies for his own/Church’s agenda. Pope reportedly told them during this meeting that they are also “called to participate actively in the Church’s mission of evangelisation, promoting pastoral outreach in communities”.

Zed and Freirich argued that maltreatment of European Gypsies was shocking, reprehensible, hazardous and immoral. Being the most powerful religious leader in the world, it was the Pope’s moral obligation to make efforts to stop the frequent human rights violations suffered by them. Pope should openly and unconditionally embrace the Gypsies’ cause and come up with a White Paper on their plight. Hindu Zed and Jewish Freirich offered help to Pope, if asked, to support the Gypsies’ cause.

Rajan Zed and Rabbi Jonathan Freirich further said that the alarming condition of the Gypsies was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced awful treatments too numerous to list.

It was a travesty to silently watch about 15-million European Gypsies suffer day after day for the last about 1200 years, and doing nothing about it, Zed and Freirich stressed.

AUTHOR: Rabbi Jonathan Freirich
URL: http://jewishand.org/interfaith-advocacy
E-MAIL: rabbijonathan [at] yahoo.com