Trump Confronting the Pope

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Trump is now confronting the Pope, the leader over Catholics, over his comment of "Blessed are the Peacemakers. " This comes from Jesus who said "Blessed are the peacemakers" during his Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Bible at Matthew 5:9. Part of the Beatitudes, the verse continues, "for they will be called children of God" (NIV) or "...sons of God" (KJV), promising spiritual recognition to those who actively seek reconciliation.

Of course, Pope Leo shows that Trump is no peacemaker and certainly not a son of G-d by not being a peacemaker.  

We have to give Trump credit, though.  He did give his adversaries chances to change their minds;  too many chances if you ask most generals.  He couldn't follow through with his big threats of destruction.  He hasn't followed through on any of his endeavors involving his threats.  He always gives in.  I wonder if Pope Leo notices that.  

     The psalms were written by King David, a Jewish King of the empire of Israel.  He ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE for 40 years.  He was educated by the Torah;  the writings of Moses. 

• Theological Perspective: Jewish tradition views David as a prophet who composed psalms through divine inspiration, some describing events that happened long after his life. 

Trump doesn't know, but the idea of peace was also mentioned over 1,000 years before in the "Old Testament"  "The Old Testament (Jewish Tanakh) also highlights that false prophets would cry "peace" when there was no actual peace, warns against trusting in hollow security, and emphasizes that true peace is found only in obedience to God's law (Jeremiah 6:14, Psalm 119:165).  Israelis use the word "Shalom" every day, and this word means "Peace." 

Shalom (שָׁלוֹם)  is used for Hello, Goodbye and Peace.  A person is greeting with the word peace showing there is to be peace between them, and not meeting as opponents.  

 In the Old Testament, peace—primarily the Hebrew word shalom—signifies comprehensive completeness, wholeness, and safety rather than just the absence of conflict. It is portrayed as a gift from God (Leviticus 26:6), a result of righteousness and obedience (Isaiah 26:3, Psalm 119:165), and a future state of harmony for creation (Isaiah 11:6-9).

The Catholic church started off under the Romans with Emperor Constantine. The Roman Emperor Constantine I convened the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE to address the nature of Jesus (Arianism) and unify Christian doctrine, including the timing of Easter. As the first ecumenical council, it aimed to resolve divisions within the church regarding Christ's divinity.  This is when they first started attacking Jews they saw as competitors to their new religion they were marketing. The fact is that it was not uncommon to see Romans converting to Judaism in Rome.  It was a religion of family, not fighting, and they liked it.  

Accordingly, though the traditional Jewish ideal was not pacifist,  it was always conceded that war can in some cases by justified.  In modern times, Jews, by virtue of their religious tradition as well as of their unique international position, have played an important part in international peace-movement.  

Saint Peter (born Shimon bar Yonah; c. 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle and Simon Peter, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church, another Jewish seeker, a fisherman.   

According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter is recognized as the first Pope, establishing the papacy in Rome around 30–64 AD. While Peter is the first in the unbroken line of Bishops of Rome, the formal, exclusive title "Pope" was not used until later centuries, with Marcellinus (d. 304) being one of the first associated with the title. 

Pope Marcellinus of 3rd century b: abt 254 CE, d: 304  CE.  He is today venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and in the Serbian Orthodox Church.   Marcellinus was a Roman, the son of Proiectus or Projectus. He succeeded Caius as bishop of Rome on 30 June 296. One reference said that during Diocletian’s persecution, Marcellinus offered incense to idols, but that, repenting shortly afterwards, he re-confessed the faith of Christ and suffered martyrdom with several companions.  I see that the change for all, including Constantine, was hard to handle from their idol worship and polytheistic belief of many gods and many slipped for years.  

The most harmful Popes towards the Jewish people were:  

• Pope Paul IV (1555–1559): Widely regarded as one of the most virulently antisemitic popes, Paul IV issued the papal bull Cum nimis absurdum in 1555, which created the Roman Ghetto, forced Jews to wear distinctive yellow hats, restricted their economic activity, and prohibited them from owning property.                    
  
  
  
• Pope Pius XII (1939–1958): Known for his controversial "silence" during the Holocaust, critics often describe him as a poor defender of Jews, with some calling him "Hitler's pope" for not publicly condemning the Nazi regime. But only one pope ever bore actual witness to a genocide and did absolutely nothing about it, and that was Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, who reigned throughout all six years of the Second World War and the Holocaust.
• However, this view is heavily debated, as defenders point to his role in facilitating the rescue of thousands of Jews behind the scenes.  Notice that this was the period of the worst for Jews starting in Germany.  1939 was the tell-tale of the change in Germans towards Jews.  So I understand that he kept his mouth shut and didn't criticize the Nazis, and why? he would have been killed for it by the Nazis.  Trump, you should realize that you are President of a country who allows people to criticize their leader without fear.
  
                 Robert Francis Prevost b: 9/14/1955, age 71
• Today's Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost on September 14, 1955) is the 267th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, elected on May 8, 2025. As the first U.S.-born and first Augustinian pope, he is a former missionary to Peru who previously served as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, focusing on bridging divides and continuing the reforms of his predecessor.
• Resource: 
• https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/sermon-blessed-peacemakers-sons-god-matthew-5:9. 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea#:~:text=The%20First%20Council%20of%20Nicaea,have%20presided%20over%20its%20deliberations.
• https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-12-no-1-2011/jerusalem-conference-first-council-christian-church#:~:text=The%20most%20famous%20council%20of,local%20leader%20from%20Alexandria%2C%20Egypt.
• https://www.historyworld.net/history/Papacy/543?section=1st8thCentury
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Marcellinus
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caius
• https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-717557
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XIV
• https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shalom/
• Tanakh (Old Testament)
• The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia ,1992, 7th edition
• ABC news
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter

Sixteenth Century's Anti-Semitism's Second Half- Expelling or Burning Jews

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

1555

The Martyrs of 1555. 25 Jews in Ancona, Italy are hanged or burned at the stake for refusing to convert to Christianity as a result of Pope Paul IV's Bull of 1555.

1556

A rumor is sent around that a poor woman in Sokhachev, Poland named Dorothy sold Jews the holy wafer received by her during communion, and that it was stabbed until it bled. The Bishop of Khelm, Poland accuses the local Jews, and eventually three Jews along with Dorothy Lazhentzka are arrested, put on the rack, and sentenced to death on charges of host desecration. They were burned at the stake. Before their death, the martyred Jews made a declaration:

"We have never stabbed the host, because we do not believe that the host is the Divine body, knowing that God has no body nor blood. We believe, as did our forefathers, that the Messiah is not God, but His messenger. We also know from experience that there can be no blood in flour."

1557

Seventy houses were burned in the ghetto of Prague, Czech Republic (Bohemia) 

 Jews are temporarily banished.

1558

Recanati, Italy: a baptized Jew (Marrano), Joseph Paul More, enters synagogue on Yom Kippur under the protection of Pope Paul IV and tries to preach a conversion sermon. The congregation evicts him. Soon after, the Jews are expelled from Recanati. Yom Kippur is the most holy day of the year.  Most likely Joseph was forced to do this to show his reliance on Christianity now that he was baptized.  He must have known the Jews would kick him out.  

1559

Pope Pius IV allows Talmud on conditions that it is printed by a Christian and the text is censored.  Oh ho!  censorship, and you know the book wasn't worth the paper it was printed on-the censoring would be on all the pages.  

1560

The Goa Inquisition begins.

The Goa Inquisition was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese India. Its objective was to enforce Catholic orthodoxy and allegiance to the Apostolic See of the Pontifex.The Portuguese used forced conversion to spread Catholicism. The resulting crypto-Hinduism was viewed as a challenge to the Church's absolute religious control. Those accused of such practices were often instructed to confess and realign with Catholic teachings. Imprisonment, torture, death penalties, and intimidating people into exile were used by the Inquisition to enforce Catholic religious control

1561

Ferdinand I takes an oath to expel the Jews. Mordechai Zemach runs to Rome and convinces Pope Pius IV to cancel the decree.

1563

Russian troops take Polotsk from Lithuania, Jews are given ultimatum: embrace Russian Orthodox Church or die. Around 300 Jewish men, women and children were thrown into ice holes of Dvina river.

1564

Brest-Litovsk, Belarus: the son of a wealthy Jewish tax collector is accused of killing the family's Christian servant for ritual purposes. He is tortured and executed in line with the law.  King Sigismund II of Poland forbids future charges of ritual murder, calling them groundless.

1566

Antonio Ghislieri elected and, as Pope Pius V, reinstates the harsh anti-Jewish laws of Pope Paul IV.

1567

Jews are allowed to live in France.

1567

Jews expelled from Republic of Genoa, Italy.

1569

Pope Pius V expels all the Jews of Bologna, Italy. He then gave their cemetery away to the nuns of Saint Peter, who destroyed it to use the land.

1569

Pope Pius V expels Jews dwelling outside of the ghettos of Rome,Italy,  Ancona, Italy, and Avignon, France  from the Papal States, thus ensuring that they remain city-dwellers.

1571

Jews in Berlin, Germany are forced to leave and their property is confiscated. History Repeats:  Jewish Germans faced systematic confiscation of their belongings as they were deported to the East, starting in October 1941. This was formalized by the Eleventh Decree of the Reich Citizenship Law in November 1941, which made such confiscation automatic for Jews deported outside of Germany

1571

The Mexican Inquisition begins.

1574

First auto-da-fé in Mexico.

1576

Deportation of Jews from Safed, Palestine to Cyprus by Ottoman authorities. History Repeats:  Between August 1946 and May 1948, the British government intercepted more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors seeking to resettle in Palestine. They interned these survivors in detention camps established on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This was at the end of WWII.  

1581

Pope Gregory XIII issues a Bull which prohibits the use of Jewish doctors.

1583

Three Portuguese conversos are burned at the stake in Rome. You can't force a religion upon a person-so conversos may have converted but still thought of themselves as Jews, and were caught practicing by not eating pork or some trifle thing...

1586

Pope Sixtus V forbids printing of the Talmud.-probably couldn't read it but as long as Jews did, ....no more printing

1590

Jewish quarter of Mikulov (Nikolsburg) burns to ground and 15 people die while Christians watch or pillage.

1590

King Philip II of Spain orders expulsion of Jews from Lombardy, France. His order is ignored by local authorities until 1597, when 72 Jewish families are forced into exile.

1591

Philip II, King of Spain, banished all Jews from the duchy of Milan, Italy. 

The Duchy of Milan  was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. The Jewish community in Milan has a long and rich history, dating back to the Roman period. While they were expelled from the city in the 16th century, they returned in the 19th century, and Milan became a center for Jewish immigrants, especially after its integration into the new Italian kingdom. Today, Milan has a vibrant Jewish community, with about 5,200 members, making it the second-largest Jewish community in Italy after Rome

1592

Esther Chiera (Kiera), Jewish,  is executed with one of her sons by the Sultan Murad III's calvary. 

Many important diplomatic transactions and many appointments to military and administrative offices were made through Kiera; and her long career under three sultans testifies to her ability and ingenuity. The representatives of the European powers often applied to Kiera and secured concessions through her. They variously refer to her in their writings as "Kiera," "Chiera," "Chierara," "Chirazza," or "Chiarazza." The name "Kiera" is of Turkish origin, Kiera's Jewish name being Esther; and it appears that toward the end of her life she adopted the Mohammedan faith and was then given the name "Fatima," as she is so styled in the firman of Osman II. Her sons were not converted with her, as is shown by the statement that one of them later saved his life by becoming a Mohammedan (he was called "Aksak Mustafa," and he died in the reign of Ibrahim I. [1640-49]); and her grandchildren also are styled Jews in the firman referred to.

1593

Pope Clement VIII confirms the papal bull of Paul III that expels Jews from papal states except ghettos in Rome and Ancona and issues Caeca et obdurata ("Blind Obstinacy"): "All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. ... Then as now Jews have to be reminded intermittently anew that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live."

1593

At least 900 are expelled from Bologna, Italy.

1595

10 people are accused of practicing Judaism in Lima, Peru. Four of them are released and one named Francisco Rodríguez, is burned alive.

1596

Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal was a Marrana (Jewish convert to Christianity) in New Spain executed by the Inquisition for "judaizing" in 1596. One of her children, Isabel, in her twenties at the time, was tortured until she implicated the whole of the Carabajal family. The whole family was forced to confess and abjure at a public auto-da-fé, celebrated on Saturday, 24 February 1590. Luis de Carabajal the younger (one of Francisca's sons), along with Francisca and four of her daughters, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and another one of Francisca's sons, Baltasar, who had fled upon the first warning of danger, was, along with his deceased father Francisco Rodriguez de Matos, burnt in effigy. In January 1595, Francisca and her children were accused of a relapse into Judaism and convicted. During their imprisonment they were tempted to communicate with one another on Spanish pear seeds, on which they wrote touching messages of encouragement to remain true to their faith. At the resulting auto-da-fé, Francisca and her children Isabel, Catalina, Leonor, and Luis, died at the stake, together with Manuel Diaz, Beatriz Enriquez, Diego Enriquez, and Manuel de Lucena (9) people. Of her other children, Mariana,(10th)  who lost her reason for a time, was tried and put to death at an auto-da-fé held in Mexico City on 25 March 1601; Anica, the youngest child, being "reconciled" at the same time.

1598

3 Jews in Lublin are brutally tortured and executed by quartering, after a Christian boy is found in a nearby swamp. Deaths often blamed on Jews saying they needed Christian blood to make matzos...Lies such as this were believed by the masses.  

    King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Castile

1478-1834  Spanish Inquisition:  

The Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478 by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Castile, was a tribunal tasked with maintaining religious orthodoxy within their kingdoms. It targeted those deemed heretical, including Jews, Muslims, and later Protestants, for deviation from Catholic doctrine. The Inquisition's reach extended to Spain, Portugal, and Spanish colonies, lasting until 1834. The Inquisition was a constant going on throughout these time periods, going into 
Mexico as well.  Christopher Columbus may have been Jewish as well leaving in 1492, 
sailing the ocean blue with some of his Jewish hands also escaping.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_antisemitism

A History of Jews Living in Ghettos

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                           

Today's Ghetto in Venice

In Daniel Silva's books, the main character, Gabriel Allon's love of his life is a Jewish Italian woman who is living in the old Jewish Ghetto in Venice, Italy.  Evidently her family had been there for ages.  Gabriel is an Israeli spy for Mossad, I believe.  His profession is that of a painter; an art restorer of the old masters that are found in Italy.  

Present day Jews are most familiar with the Ghetto in Venice where the Jews were segregated in 1517 after the Spanish Inquisition had started and spread from 1492.  

The Ghetto was a Jewish quarter in a city, set up by law to be homes only for Jews.  The name comes from the foundry or Ghetto in Venice where the Jews were segregated from the rest of the city.

If you've been watching Net Flicks on TV's Medici or The Borgias, you'll get a taste of the history and know that Venice in the 15th century was a city-state as they all were, warring against each other, seeking power.  

The idea of segregating the Jewish population goes back to earlier Church legislation to the Lateran Councils of 1179 and 1215 which forbade Jews and Christians to live together in close contact.  The Catholic church was in power and considered Jews as their competition in religion and they were just changing over from Roman gods to Christianity.  

In Spain, the Jews lived at least from the 13th century in juderias provided with walls and gates for their protection.  in 1355, 12,000 Jews were massacred by the mob in Toledo.  in 1492, 180,000 were expulsed from Spain while 50,000 were converted to Christianity so as to remain in Spain.  Most of them were keeping their Jewishness a secret, and today many are coming out of the closet, so to speak, and not called Marranos anymore but the Anusim; Jews.  

From the 15th century, the friars in Italy began to press for the effective segregation of the Jews, and in 1555, Pope Paul IV ordered that Jews in the Papal States should be forced to live in separate quarters.  This was carried out right away in Rome and became the rule throughout Italy in the next generation as well.  

The name, GHETTO used in Venice now was applied universally.  It was in common use under the name of Judengasse in Germany and Prague and in some Polish cities.  It was a town within a town.  People inside had a certain amount of autonomy but besides this, did have a vigorous spiritual and intellectual life.

However, it was unhealthy and overcrowded as the area had no way to expand.   It was beset with many fires in those days.                                                            
An even bigger problem was that they were set upon by forced baptism, the wearing of the Jewish Badge, conversionist sermons, and the occupational restrictions.  

It took the French Period to come alone before clothing ID saying you were a Jew was abolished in Italy but reintroduced locally in the 19th century, and only came to an end when Rome united with the kingdom of Italy in 1870.  

Moslem law did not restrict Jews into their own quarter like European Christians were doing.  Their deterioration came in the 18th century.  Jews there were required to move from the area of mosques and were restricted in the size of their houses.  Economic decline came along and Jewish quarters became slums.  

In Persia, Shi'ite (Iran today) fanaticism from the outset enforced distinct Jewish quarters, also closed at night and on Sabbaths as Europe had practiced.  This practice extended to Yemen and Morocco where the ghettos were called as Qa'at al-Yahud or Masbattah and Mellah.  
                                                      

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler inspecting Dachau concentration camp on 8 May 1936.

Then we come to 1939 and the Nazis in Eastern Europe.  Ghettos were not permanent homes there but temporary holding cells in their plan of liquidation aiming to concentrate, isolate, and break the spirit of their occupants before they were murdered.  Between 1939 and 1942, Jews from Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and other places were transferred mainly to the Warsaw and Lublin areas of Poland.  Ghettos were used there and at other places like Lodz, Minsk, Vilna, Cracow, Bialystok, Lvov, Riga, Sosnowiec.  
                                                          

The population of the Warsaw Ghetto grew to 445,000 and there were 200,000 in the ghetto of Lodz.  In the beginning they were overcrowded.   If one escaped, the punishment was death.  The Gestapo and SS were in control.  
They appointed council out of the Jewish people to carry out their dastardly orders and used them as a Jewish police force.  
                                                          

Last Seder in Warsaw Ghetto
76 years ago, the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto organized the largest Jewish armed resistance against the Nazis. It was April 19th, the first night of Pesach. As the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was unfolding, Jews gathered for a Seder. For most of them, it would be their last.

The councils organized social welfare, schools, maintained courts of law, and raised a labor fore for the Germans.  As the Nazi murderous plans became clear with gas chambers and shootings,  both councils and the Jewish police passed into the hands of collaborators who formed a privileged group.  

The ghettos contained industrial centers working for Germany at nominal wages.  Nazis starved the ghettos and available relief could only be financed at the expense of the Jews themselves.  

The Ghettoed Jews went through destitution and demoralization but maintained cultural activity, schools and mutual aid and from this moral resistance were born the Ghetto Revolts of 1943.  The Warsaw Ghetto was liquidated in 1943 and the remaining ghettos by 1944.  
                                    

                     The Pianist is a movie about the Warsaw Ghetto.  

Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia