Conference of European Rabbis Annual Review 2017-2018 (5777-5778) 20 www.rabbiscer.org The meeting was hosted by the Municipality of the City of Amsterdam and supported by the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID). It was held under the patronage of the Vice President of the European Parliament, Mairead McGuiness. In his opening address, the Secretary General of KAICIID, Faisal Bin Muaammar, called on the members of the Council to show leadership in promoting Jewish-Muslim dialogue: "Europe needs your commitment to equal citizenship, and respect for diversity. We need your commitment to advocate for the shared rights of religious groups in Europe, and to build trust and cooperation between Muslim and Jewish communities.” Papal Visit On August 31st of 2017, an international delegation including representatives of the CER, the RCA and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel visited the Vatican for a papal audience at which the rabbis presented the historic declaration Between Jerusalem and Rome to the pontiff. The delegation included CER president and Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, Rabbi Avichai Apel of Frankfurt, Chief Rabbi Arie Folger of Vienna, Rabbi Mark Dratch, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Dr. David Berger, special interfaith representative of the RCA, Chief Rabbi Rasson Arusi of Kiryat Ono, Israel member of the interfaith council of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel, and Mr. Oded Wiener, past secretary general of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel. Chief Rabbi Folger, who had chaired the committee that authored this historic document, presented a special signed copy to the Pope. During the visit, CER president Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt recognized the many achievements in Catholic Jewish relations that came in the wake of Nostra Aetate Nr. 4, underlined our shared concerns and our desire to work more tightly together to fight for religious freedom and against hatred, for a more just and more moral society. Echoing the declaration of Between Jerusalem and Rome, Pope Francis, in his address, acknowledged not only our shared values, but also our unbridgeable differences, which he respects. The Pope cited a verse in Jeremiah, showing that he understood, as we do, our religiously informed political and social activism not to be a mere secular matter, but a religiously meaningful set of actions. The following individuals represented the three organisations that are signatories to this document in the committees that authored the document: For the Conference of European Rabbis: Rabbis Pinchas Goldschmidt (CER president), Arie Folger (chairman of the committee), Yaakov Bleich, Riccardo Di Segni, Bruno Fiszon, Jonathan Guttentag, René Gutman, Moché Lewin, Aryeh Ralbag & Yihyeh Teboul. For the Rabbinical Council of America: Rabbis Shalom Baum (RCA president), Mark Dratch (RCA executive vice president), Yitzchok Adlerstein, David Berger & Barry Kornblau. For the Chief Rabbinate of Israel: Rabbi David Rosen and Mr. Oded Wiener. We are also grateful to the following individuals (listed alphabetically), who saw and commented upon early drafts of our declaration: Prof. Alan Brill, Cooperman/Ross Endowed Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University Dr. Zion Evrony, Israeli ambassador to the Vatican Cardinal Kurt Koch, President to the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews Dr. Andreas Verhülsdonk from the Secretariat of the German Bishops‘ Conference. PA PA L V I S I T ( A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 ) M U N I C H S E C U R I T Y C O N F E R E R N C E