Pope Francis has received some negative publicity of late, first for using a gay slur in comments at a meeting with bishops, and then for saying to a group of priests that “gossip is a women’s thing.” What did Pope Francis do that led Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations at the American Jewish Committee, to comment that the Pope “gets it in his kishkes”?

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A. In 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Argentina (who became Pope Francis that year) co-wrote the book On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century with his friend Rabbi Abraham Skorka. Rabbi Marans was referencing that book, where the two clergy focused on the building of bridges between Catholics and Jews worldwide.

B. In November 2019, a Roman Holocaust survivor had been the victim of death threats. As the Pope was offering remarks to a public audience, he veered from his prepared remarks and stated, “The Jewish people have suffered so much in history. But today the habit of persecuting the Jews, brothers and sisters, is here reborn. This is neither human nor Christian.” Rabbi Marans was in that audience and later praised the Pope for his compassion.

C. When Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited the Pope in 2015, Rivlin’s bureau chief, Rivka Ravitz, was not comfortable bowing to the Pope, as is protocol. The Pope therefore covered his cross necklace with his hand and bowed down to Ms. Ravitz. Rabbi Marans made his comment following that interaction.

D. Pope Francis visited Israel in 2014. While there, he became the first Pope to visit the grave of Theodor Herzl, and he visited Yad Vashem, where he kissed the hands of Holocaust survivors. Rabbi Marans was referring to this trip by the Pope when he made his remarks.

E. Rabbi Marans had invited the Pope to his Passover seder. At one point, the Pope excused himself from the table and “disappeared” for a half hour, shortly after eating the Hillel sandwich of bitter herbs on matzah. After Rabbi Marans went to check on the Pope, he reported to the other guests that the Pope was okay, but “you know, some people can’t really handle the bitter herbs, like the Pope, who ‘gets it in his kishkes.’ ”

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