Jews will be even less of a priority for the next Pope

Every religious person, (pious or layman) should get on their knees and ask for God's forgiveness and pray for "THE BETTERMENT of MANKIND". We still... don't know how to communicate without hate and violence. Day, to day,people are killing innocent people or their own families. My hope is, that all religions teach that we all have, a free will, to choose what is right or good for all. Only some are truly conscious of the knowledge. to choose for the " BETTERMENT of Mankind " which is ultimately God's goal for all humanity. God teaches how to choose with a clear conscience. All he requires of us, is that we have a true FAITH in Him.

The way the author hyper-analyzes Benedict is hilarious. It reminds me of NASA being asked to promote US/Islamic relations. Benedict wasn't enthusiastic enough in promoting Jewish relations? You even emphasized that fact that he dispelled anti-Jewish myths (which haven't been perpetuated by mainstream clergy in decades, at the least) in his Christ biography. That's a really good thing. You should congratulate him and move on, rather than suspect that he could have done more and that he needs to earn your trust. You should treat the Church as something not innately opposed to Judaism, as most radical Muslims are (for obvious political reasons among others). As a Catholic, I can say that the Church is a religion apart from Judaism. We share things and should treat each other with dignity, but the Catholic Church does not exist for the sole purpose of making Jews feel good. It's a religion, not a therapy session. I mean, I don't exactly see most Jews jumping up to congratulate me and console me on the validity of my faith. In fact, because of writers like you, I feel the opposite: that many politically active Jewish persons like yourself feel they have the right to immediately eye me with suspicion, because of my faith. This is because of scary junkyard dogs like the ADL, etc. It begins to come across as paranoia.

And - why again were they in Babylonian shackles??

"At the end of the day, they argued, Ratzinger's theological position merely treats Judaism as a half-way religion that has to be fulfilled by Christianity and isn't self-sufficient, at least not in terms of salvation. This is no more than a milder rephrasing of the traditional vision of Judaism as something that needs to be replaced by a new version of itself, i.e. Christianity. " Except for the use "half-way relegion" and other phrasing that is the teaching of the new testament. So if Pope Benedict thought otherwise he wouldn't have been Pope.

Jews were never prioritized in Catholic history. Christians and Jews interacted because like Eve’s birth Christianity was fashioned out the Adam-rib of Judaism. They were people entangled with one another from the beginning. A significant separation occurred when Christianity became the national religion of the Roman Empire. The nationalization of Christianity not only was a factor in separating Christians from Jews but also became a wedge between Christians precipitating unending conflicts between them over the centuries. It seems to me that the nationalization of Judaism in Israel is having the same consequences for Jews as nationalization had for Christians. When a religion is nationalized it becomes a political tool of power brokers and winds up serving mammon. not God.

The extent to which the Jews think the Catholic Church is about them ... tells you all you need to know.

Also, since we don't know who the next Pope will be how can the reporter possibly know anything about future policy?

religions??? Especially if they consider it a false religion - Stupid observation.

Historical Jews or for that matter many other cultures of 3 millenia old respected power & strength of a person or institution who would be friendly & non-intrusive to their territory/cultures. Thats the reason they venerate Cyrus of Aryan origin who freed them from the shackles of Babylon, while at the same time look down up on one of their own, the Jesus of Nazareth who was quite a mild character & wasn't capable enough of driving the romans away from Israel. But humanity is a strange kind of species where everything doesn't work in the context of might is right... So the same docile 'Jesus of Nazareth' went on to become the world's most influential person from past 2 millenia affecting both the people who crucified him & was crucified on the behest of the people, also very many cultures...