He will only desecrate our lands!!!

Why did the Catholic Church excommunicate Napoleon, but not Hitler? In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote explicitly of his antipathy for Christendom. He called Christianity "the first spiritual terror" and that "terror can only be broken by terror". By contrast, Napoleon reversed the French Revolution's destruction of the French Catholic Church, and restored government recognition to Catholicism in France, officially recognizing it as "the religion of the great majority of Frenchmen", albeit under a secular government with limitations to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. So, why did the Church excommunicate Napoleon, a liberator of men, and not Hitler, a mass-murderer of men who should have been consigned to the bowels of hell?

If he is blind to deeds of Pius XII and the Church during the war the he is not worthy of coming to the land created by the people his Church has persecuted for centuries!

in his hitler youth uniform? he has chutzpah to visit Yad Vashem! Finally after two thousand years of persecution by the catholic church,he will meet with our enemy,the palis?

Every Pope "suffers" of dual responsibility by being the head of the Vatican State and the highest Roman Catholic Priest who at official function speaks in the name of God and Jesus - conseqeuntly his propose journey to the Holy Land his political. Let this be sad outright, and acoordingly he and his enturage should be dealt with and could not hide behind his partime religious position. This should be made clear prior to the Pope starting his journey.

Germans born in 1928 and before need to apply for a visa(unlike younger Germans who only need a passport). If the Pope was a 'regular person" he would need to apply for this visa and he could easily be denied it. Besides the Pope I wonder if there has ever been other former Nazi soldiers to visit Yad Vashem? Did that Nazi Kurt Waldheim ever go to Yad Vashem? I hope not!

OK, this whole Pius thing is not alright by the church. Then again, being Jewish, I have no business telling Catholics who to make a saint and who not. From what I understand it has to do with miracles that the person supposedly did after his death and not what he did or did not do during his life. But then again, I'm no theologist. I think the Pope should visit the museum of Yad Vashem and not just the mourning hall. It is not entirely clear from the article if he will only leave out the part about Pius and see the rest or not. It would be nice if that could be made somewhat clearer in the article. Some of the comments here are polemic. The Pope was not a Nazi soldier. He was in the Hitler Youth. I'm not saying that that is a great thing, but it was mandatory for German boys at that time and from what I have read, he very much disliked it and the Nazi ideology. So let's cut him some slack. It's not his fault that he was born a German and I don't think he is antisemitc. I do think he is way too conservative though.

It has no significance for catholics and since he is the titular head of the roman empire that destroyed the temple, the visit will only offend religious jews. Since it is used as a nationalist symbol by the state, it is a political decision to visit it.

will he baptize them?

about his plan to pray at the dome, considering how many Christian's have been killed or converted by Muslims.

It is well know that the Valtican is in possession of art the was stolen from jews in europe. the nazis stashed it there. SO MY QUESTION IS WHEN WILL THE POPE GIVE IT BACK.??? IF THE FAMILIES ARE NOT ALIVE THEN GIVE IT TO ISRAEL.

Hiller was not Catholic-no reason to excommunicate.Napolean was.

These pious thieves have too many items in their vaults that belong to us yidden. Did JEWS ever give up ownership of their holy books? Where the books and manuscripts donated to the to the holy popes? Perhaps they bought them fair and square at public auctions. There are rumors that that the vatican has many items from our temples. Let them open all their vaults for universal inspection and then they will be recognized for the thieves that they are!

As a diplomat of a state that has relations with Israel, a visa is not required, regardless of their original nationality.

This self proclaimed vicar of Christ will dishonor the very Christ he claims to represent by honoring Islam through prayer at this abomination of desolation. He will enter with his dagon hat into the temple of ba'al. What will he say there? Will he pray for the shalom of Yerushalayim? Will he have the guts to condemn the terrorism that comes from these people or will he bless them? I fear that he will kiss the shoe of the chief terrorist there.

The "Western Wall" is NOT Judaism's most holy place. The most holly place in Judaism is The Holy of Holies and that's the place where the Muslims deliberately built their mosque on top of. Just like they do when ever they conquer any other religious site in the world. The Western Wall is just the only thing that the Romans left standing. We just pray at the Wall for the time being, until we get what's rightfully ours back. GOD willing very soon.

I agree that the Pope is not anti-Jewish. In fact, he has been a friend to the Jews. However, that is besides the point. He stands at the head of an organization that has wayyy too much anti-Jewish baggage that needs to be dispensed with.

Uhhh?? WTF the whole deity-cide thing makes the whole NT inherently antisemitic. Protestants are just going through a "zeitgeist" obsession trying to define what that German term means. Because they are enthralled with getting recognition of all the "persecution" they endured in the "European Holocaust" and all the sacrificing they have made in making Israel a reality again. If protestants really want to contemplate antisemitism I suggest they start with the works of their founder and patron Martin Luther - Von den Juden und Iren Lugen - A really swell treatise to say the least.

Lying antisemite pagan

Now that you have gotten that off your chest, now you can go read the Torah portion. Let's see, that would be Ki Tissa. OOPs! There's a golden calf there. A covenant was broken. It seems we all have our sins. Even the protestants.