Pope to Di Segni, strengthen Church-Jewish dialogue

The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, received a personal message from Pope Leo XIV informing him of his election as the new Pontiff. In his message, the Pontiff pledged 'to continue and strengthen the dialogue and cooperation of the Church with the Jewish people in the spirit of the declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council'. The Jewish Community of Rome announced this in a note. "The Chief Rabbi of Rome, who will be present at the celebration of the inauguration of the pontificate, welcomed with satisfaction and gratitude the words addressed to him by the new Pope," the note reads.

Until his retirement, Riccardo Di Segni practised the profession of radiologist together with various rabbinic activities. Since 1999 he has been director of the Italian Rabbinical College and, since 2001, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome. He is on the board of the Assembly of Rabbis of Italy and vice-president of the European Rabbinical Conference. He was vice-president of the National Committee for Bioethics. He is active in dialogue in particular with the Catholic Church. He has met and established friendly relations with popes since John Paul II. He welcomed Pope Benedict XVI into the Synagogue in Rome in January 2010. He visited the Grand Mosque in Rome in March 2007. He has intervened with critical positions in numerous general debates, from the modalities of Jewish-Christian dialogue to the secularity of institutions. He was critical of the performance of the choral symphony organised in Auschwitz by the Neocatechumenal Way in 2013.