Jews Ask Pope for Meeting on Waldheim Issue

NEW YORK —  Representatives of major Jewish organizations today demanded a meeting with Pope John Paul II to discuss his agreement to receive Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, whom they called “an unrepentant Nazi.”

They said such a meeting must be held before a scheduled ceremonial meeting between Jewish leaders and the Pope in September.

In a statement, the leaders urged that an early meeting with the Pope take place “to discuss substantive issues of Jewish-Catholic relations and to clarify for us and all who share our dismay the motivation for imparting the honor of a papal audience to Kurt Waldheim.”

Those signing the statement included the largest American Jewish organizations--the Synagogue Council of America, which represents all three major branches of Judaism; the American Jewish Committee; the American Jewish Congress; B’nai B’rith and the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith; the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, and the World Jewish Congress.

It was the World Jewish Congress that sponsored much of the research that turned up Waldheim’s wartime activities. Waldheim has admitted war service in the Balkans but denied any wrongdoing.

The Jewish groups are part of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, which had been arranging the Sept. 11 ceremonial meeting with the Pope in Miami.

On Thursday, the 50,000-member American Jewish Congress said its leaders will boycott the Sept. 11 conference.

Jewish-Vatican relations already were troubled because of the Pope’s meeting with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat and the Vatican’s refusal to recognize Israel.

Waldheim, former secretary-general of the United Nations, was elected president of Austria last July. In April, the U.S. government barred him from entering the United States.