Jerzy Kluger - Pope and I

THE POPE AND I

HOW THE LIFELONG FRIENDSHIPBETWEEN A POLISH JEW AND JOHN PAUL II ADVANCED THE CAUSE OF JEWISH-CHRISTIANRELATIONS

Jerzy Kluger

WITHGIANFRANCO DI SIMONE

TRANSLATEDBY MATTHEW SHERRY

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Translation copyright 2012 by George B. Irish

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Manufactured in theUnited States of America

Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data

Kluger, Jerzy.

The Pope and I: how thelifelong friendship between a Polish Jew and John Paul II advancedJewish-Christian relations / by Jerzy Kluger with Gianfranco Di Simone ; translated by Matthew Sherry.

p . cm.

ISBN978-1-57075-970-3 (cloth)

1. John Paul II, Pope,1920-2005 - Friends and associates. 2. Kluger, Jerzy - Friends and associates.3. Popes-Biography. 4. Jews - Poland - Biography. 5. Catholic Church -Relations - Judaism. 6. Judaism Relations Catholic Church. 1. Di Simone,Gianfranco. II. Title. BX1378.5.K5813 2012 282.092 dc23

11)] 2011160504

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

This is the poignant story of a friendship betweena Polish Catholic and a Jew from a small town in Poland, a friendship deepenedby the great human tragedies that swirled around it in their youth and theinternational controversies that defined so much of their mature yearstogether. It is the story of young Karol "Lolek" Wojtya, and Jerzy "Jurek" Kluger, the story of a pope and of a survivor of the Shoah, as told from the perspective of the latter. As such, the background for theremarkable friendship narrated here is nothing less than the entire history ofthe ancient, covenantal relationship between the Christian Church and theJewish People, a relationship, many Jews and Christians today attest, that canillumine and deepen our understanding of the larger relationship betweenhumanity and its Creator, the One God, the God of Israel.

The opening paragraph of this foreword may seem to many readers to be an exercise in hyperbole, but I canassure them, after nearly a lifetime of study and involvement in theJewish-Christian dialogue, that it is not. The boy Lolek, of course,was to become Blessed Pope John Paul II, arguably one of the handful of most significant figures in Christian-Jewish relations since the time of theApostles and certainly one of the most positive, with the goal of improving therelationship between Catholics and Jews a chief, defining feature of hisrelatively long pontificate. Indeed, no pope in history spoke more often ormore positively about Jews and Judaism, or acted more decisively andsymbolically to embed his words into the life of the Church, than did JohnPaul. He was the first pope since Saint Peter to visit and to pray with Jews inthe Great Synagogue of Rome (1986), the first to visit Auschwitz and to meetand dialogue substantively on American soil with representatives of the world'slargest Jewish community (1987), and the first to make a personal pilgrimageand official state visit to the state of Israel (2000). These actions and thedeveloping clarity and depth of his teachings on how we Catholics are as Churchto understand theologically our ongoing relations with God's People, the Jews,one may say without exaggeration, have forever changed that relationship, inthe process bettering the ability of the Church and the Jewish People towitness, together, to the One God and to God's loving Will for all humanity,drawing on the Scriptures we share and our own distinct yet interrelatedtraditions of interpreting them.

Though fraught with large historical andtheological implications, the story told by Jurek of hisfriendship, lost and found, with the Catholic boy Lolek, is at thesame time a deeply personal one, here narrated in simple and engaging languagethat draws in the reader and enables us as readers to feel that we are sittingat the table with them, whether in the Vatican or in the papal summerresidence, Castel Gandolfo, enjoying the pasta, the Italian wine, a sip ofvodka, reminiscences of their youth, and hopes for the present and future ofCatholics and Jews alike. This memoir is both illuminating for those who wishto understand why John Paul was so deeply motivated to further theCatholic-Jewish dialogue, and a good read, communicating sometimes complextruths with human warmth and a dollop of humor.

When it became known that one of the pope's bestfriends in Rome was a Polish Jew who had known Wojtya from boyhood,of course, the larger Jewish community reached out to Jurek in the understandablehope that he might be able and willing to communicate Jewish concerns to theleader of the Church, which of course he was and did, relying on the equallyopen and willing ears of the pope in so doing. One of the key Jewish leaders inRome to contact Kluger with this in mind was Jzef Lichten,himself originally a Polish Jew who had for many years been in charge ofinterfaith relations for the Anti-Defamation League (then of B'nai B'rith),especially with Catholics, and who had retired to live in Rome. In my owncapacity working in Catholic-Jewish relations for the U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops, I had come myself to know Joe Lichten as a colleague and afriend, knowledgeable and positive toward Jewish relations with Catholics, so Ican appreciate how appropriate he was as a mentor for Jurek in thisregard, just as this memoir depicts him to have been.

In the discussions between Kluger and Lichten, also oftenover pasta and good wine, the latter gives the former quite digestible lessonsin Jewish-Christian history and in the current controversies of the day, whethermatters evocative of the Holocaust, such as the convent of nuns built adjacentto the death camp of Auschwitz, or the need, from the Jewish viewpoint, for theHoly See to exchange ambassadors with the state of Israel and thus makemanifest for all the recognition by the Church of the existence of Israel as aJewish state, indeed as a safe haven for Jewish survivors of the Shoah and forJews of future generations who may need what the European Jews of the SecondWorld War did not have, a refuge from persecution whether by Christians orothers. This book, then, is informative not only about the psychology and innerspirituality of a great pope, but also about the larger issues that faced theChurch in his time, and which no less face the Church today.

Eugene J. Fisher

Distinguished Professor of Catholic-Jewish Studies

Saint Leo University

PREFACE

I first met Jerzy Kluger, known to his friends as Jurek, about fifteen years ago through an introduction by a mutual friend. Hewas anxious to arrange for the publication of a short piece by the Polishprelate, Cardinal AndrzejDeskur, a close friend of Pope John Paul II. I was able toarrange for its publication in a U.S. newspaper and so began our journeytogether.

Over the years, Jurek and I visitedin the United States and Rome on about six occasions, and we communicated viaemail and occasional phone calls. Sometime in 2007, Jurek's neighbor, a lawyernamed Gianfranco Di Simone, suggested that Jurek consider writing a book about his lifelong friendship with Pope JohnPaul II. While Jurek's memory of events was clear, dates and details had beenlost during the closing of his office upon his retirement. Nevertheless, in anexcited email in May 2008, Jurek told me of finding his notes "regarding allthe meetings I had with John Paul II and other people at the Vatican. The notesinclude all the details of my numerous meetings with Pope John Paul II and hismost important collaborators regarding the Catholic-Jewish relations as well asrelations between the Holy See and the state of Israel. All of this isabsolutely and completely unedited! They give fantastic details that must beincluded in the book. Obviously they are all in the Polish language, and I'mtranslating them into the Italian language for Dr. Di Simone."