The head of the Zionist Organization of America demanded Tuesday that the Vatican end its promotion of pilgrimages to Christian sites in Palestine – "erasing Israel from the picture" even though visits include iconic sites in Jerusalem.
"The ZOA regards this a sinister reiteration of Catholic replacement theology, whereby Jews and Judaism are theologically dismissed from history," the ZOA said in a statement on its website.
The outrage follows a commentary from "Il Fogio" journalist Giulio Meotti, who condemns bus tours conducted by Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.
"Catholic tourist maps and pilgrimage brochures omitted the name 'Israel,' using instead the sanitized expression 'Holy Land,' one of the visible effects of the Catholic 'replacement theology,' which adopts a de–Judaizing language," Meotti writes.
"It [is also] no secret that Catholic pilgrims spend virtually all their time visiting holy sites in Palestinian-run territory, staying in Palestinian Arab hotels and listening to Palestinian Arab tour guides," he argues. "As a result, these pilgrims return filled with hatred towards Israel."
ZOA's national president Morton Klein noted that when Pope John Paul II visited the Rome Synagogue in 1986, "he embraced Rabbi Elio Toaff and declared Jews the 'elder brothers' of Christians."
"One does not treat an elder brother as non-existent and revise one's language to avoid referring to him, while exclusively seeking the company of his hostile neighbors," Klein said.
"We urge the Vatican to cease organizing and promoting tours to Israel that do not name the country, do not refer to its Jewish history and which shun contacts with the country of its 'elder brothers.'"
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