Rabbi Asks Pope Benedict Not to Wear Cross at Western Wall

Published January 14, 2015

A rabbi in Jerusalem has one request for Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the Western Wall in May: Leave the cross at home.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, who will meet the pontiff when he visits the Holy Land on May 12, said that a cross is not proper when visiting the Jewish religious site, The Jerusalem Post reported.

"My position is that it is not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross," Rabinovitch told The Jerusalem Post. "I feel the same way about a Jew putting on a tallit and phylacteries and going into a church."

However, the pope’s predecessor, John Paul II, was seen wearing a cross while praying at the Western Wall in 2000, The Post reported.

In recent years, Rabinovitch has at least twice kept Christian officials wearing crosses from visiting the location, at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, according to The Post.

Click here to read more on this story from The Jerusalem Post.

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