New Pope said to be good to the Jews

Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires who was elected Pope on Wednesday, is said to have good relations with Argentina's Jewish community.

Bergoglio has the reputation of a reformer, and pundits said that the choice of Bergoglio was a shrewd one on the part of the Cardinals, as the Church now has a symbol that could reconnect with masses of Catholics who have been disillusioned by the scandals in the Catholic Church, such as the large numbers of pedophile charges against priests, as well as the Church's unpopular positions on a number of personal issues.

Bergoglio is said to have had good relations with Argentinian Jews. He was praised by local and U.S. Jewish community leaders for his response to the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association. In 2005, Bergoglio signed a joint statement against terrorism together with Jose Adaszko of the Israel Mutual Association of Argentina, and Omar Helal Massud of the Islamic Center, with an emphasis on preventing attacks such as the 1994 bombing.

We can hope....