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then he should change the biblical story. Adam and Eve's crime of disobedience, their sin, is their responsibility, but every Christian is born in sin because of their sin. Now what do you have to do with Adam and Eve?
Certainly if the pope understands the implications of what he has said then he should be able and courageous enough to say, "We withdraw that biblical story." Adam and Eve were responsible. God could have punished them -- that is their business -- but six thousand years have passed, according to the BIBLE, and still every Christian is born in sin and has to be punished because Adam and Eve committed sin. We are connected with them through generations and generations. But we were not part of it; we have not done it, we were not consulted.
One should be aware when he says something because it has implications. Now if the pope says Jews are not responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, then no Christian is born in sin because Adam and Eve disobeyed God. If he accepts that implication, only then is what he is saying meaningful. Otherwise it is all politics: it has nothing to do with truth, he simply wants more political support from the Jews.
And it is dangerous for Jews to support him, because finally that support will mean he will swallow the whole Jewish people. He will start saying, "We are not different. Jesus was a Jew, and we are Jesus' followers, and you are Jews -- we are not different." And he has six hundred million Catholics. If he does not accept that the biblical story is wrong, then he has to take his statement back or he has to accept that it is a political strategy.
It has never happened before, but in a joke I have heard that each year the pope and the high priest of the Jews meet on the road, both going towards each other's place. They meet in the middle, and a great crowd awaits them there to see the meeting. It is done very gracefully. The Jew bows down to the pope and gives him a scroll. The pope reads the contents of the scroll, gives it back, bows down to the Jew, and the meeting is finished. And people have always been wondering, "What is the matter? What transpires between these two people? And what
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